WA Sailors on Track for Medal Round

Luke Elliott and Matt Wearn appear on track for a crack at the medal round of the European Laser Championships in Porto following the completion of qualifying.

With light and shifty conditions providing a consistent theme in Porto to this point, WA sailors Elliott and Wearn currently hold top 10 positions in sixth and ninth respectively.

Its reigning Olympic champion Tom Burton who currently holds the prime position however, with his first race ninth place currently registered as his drop, as he leads the standings on just 12 points.

With qualifying now completed and gold fleet set to bunch the best sailors, head to head. Wearn is hoping to make his mark.

He remained stable in ninth place after the third day, starting well with a ninth in Race 5, but dropping to 18th in Race 6.

“Not only was it light, but there was a big swell. In the first race I recovered from a poor start to sneak back into the top ten. “The second race I did the opposite. I had a good first upwind, but fell backwards quickly,” he said.

“I’m happy to be going into the final series tomorrow, where I’m looking forward to some tight racing,” Wearn added.

Luke Elliott has dropped from leading the series down to sixth place, courtesy of not bad 10th and seventh places, showing just how tight racing is. On this close points table though, it is still anyone’s event to win.

“It was a tougher day; the current was really strong and the wind really light,” Elliott remarked.

“I made some good comebacks though, to keep my nose clean through qualifying. Now the regatta kind of starts again, with the finals starting tomorrow.”

In the Laser Radial competition, WA’s entrants have each missed out on gold fleet, with Elyse Ainsworth (37th on 92 points), Zoe Thomson (63rd on 133 points) and Jacinta Ainsworth (72nd on 152 points) falling short of the top 22.