Sailing 2020 Tokyo Olympic Review

Men’s RS:X

Mateo Sanz Lanz (Switzerland) took wins in both of the first two opening races, with Kiran Badloe (Netherlands) winning the third. Mattia Camboni (Italy) and Angel Granda Roque (Spain) also made strong starts. Badloe had the best day two with a first, second and sixth. Camboni posted two thirds and an eighth, whilst Thomas Goyard (France) laid down a marker with two wins. Badloe ended up being disqualified in race five, but his day three was even more impressive as he finished second, fourth and first. Bi Kun (China) had an even better day, also following a disqualification from the previous day, finishing first; third and second. On day four, Badloe won two races and finished fifth, leaving him an insurmountable 19 points ahead of Goyard. Camboni was two points behind, with Piotr Myszka (Poland) a further three back. Bi Kun and Tom Squires (Great Britain) were outsiders heading into the medal round. Yoav Cohen (Israel) won the medal race but was too far behind to challenge for the podium, with Badloe in second sealing gold. Goyard took silver ahead of Kun, with second and sixth separated by just five points.

🥇Kiran Badloe 🇳🇱

🥈Thomas Goyard 🇫🇷

🥉Bi Kun 🇨🇳

Men’s Laser

Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (France) took race one, ahead of Kaarle Tapper (Finland). Milivoj Dukic (Montenegro) won race two after finishing 29th in the opening race, before Jesper Stalheim (Sweden) took the third. After the opening three races, Tapper led Tonci Stipanovic (Croatia). Pavlos Kontides (Cyprus) took two wins on the second day, whilst the consistency of Matthew Wearn (Australia) began to impress after an uncharacteristically poor opening two races. Day three saw Wearn win two straight races, taking a lead of 15 points over Kontides. The other impressive sailor on day three was Charlie Buckingham (United States), with a third and second. Most of the contenders had a poor final day; Sam Meech (New Zealand) was the most consistent with an eleventh and third. Wearn had sealed the gold before the medal race though with a 22-point lead. Hermann Tomasgaard (Norway) held second, by three points over Stipanovic, who had a two-point gap over Kontides. Bernaz won the medal race but was too far back to make an impact. Instead, the major medal change came as Stipanovic finished ahead of Tomasgaard to switch positions.

🥇Matthew Wearn 🇦🇺

🥈Tonci Stipanovic 🇭🇷

🥉Hermann Tomasgaard 🇳🇴

Men’s Finn

Alican Kaynar (Turkey) took two wins on day one, as the podium positions repeated in the two races. Behind him were Zsombor Berecz (Hungary) and Joan Cardona Mendez (Spain). On day two it was the turn of Giles Scott (Great Britain), who won both races but Cardona Mendez continued his good form with a fifth and third. Scott took both races on day three, with Cardona Mendez taking a second and third. Nicholas Heiner (Netherlands) finished second and fourth to begin to put pressure on. The winning run of Scott finally ended as Josh Junior (New Zealand) took a race, but normal service resumed in race eight as Scott won. Scott had a good day five to enter the medal race with a nine-point lead over Berecz, a further two ahead of Cardona Mendez. Berecz took victory in the medal race ahead of Heiner. Scott finished fourth in the race, continuing the British stronghold in an event that they had dominated, in its final Olympic race.

🥇Giles Scott 🇬🇧

🥈Zsombor Berecz 🇭🇺

🥉Joan Cardona Mendez 🇪🇸

Men’s 470

Belcher/Ryan (Australia) led after day one with a series consistently strong finishes, despite not winning a race. They rectified that on day two, taking two victories. Patience/Grube (Great Britain) finished second and fourth to move into second overall. Day three saw a fourth and a third for the Australians to extend the lead. Xammar/Rodriguez (Spain) and Costa/Costa (Portugal) were the two teams to pick up victories. Australia took a second and first on day four, extending their lead over Spain, who managed a second and third. Day five saw Dahlberg/Bergstrom (Sweden) record a second and a first to put themselves in second overall. The Australians had their worst race, but still entered the medal race 20 points ahead of Sweden, guaranteeing them gold. Despite having already guaranteed gold, they won the medal race. Sweden finished second and the fifth place of Spain was just enough to hang onto bronze.

🥇Matthew Belcher/Will Ryan 🇦🇺

🥈Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom 🇸🇪

🥉Jordi Xammar/Nicolas Rodriguez 🇪🇸

Men’s 49er

In the only race on day one, Dickson/Waddilove (Ireland) took the victory ahead of Fletcher/Bithell (Great Britain). The British pair took the momentum into day two finishing eighth, fourth and first. Several teams had good days though and it was tight with the first six teams separated by seven points. Day three saw race wins by Burling/Tuke (New Zealand) and Warrer/Jensen (Denmark). At the end of day four, three teams were tied in the lead, with Great Britain and New Zealand joined by Diego Botin/Iago Lopez (Spain). Not too far behind were the Danish pair and Heil/Ploessel (Germany). New Zealand was four points better than Great Britain and Spain on day four and heading into the medal race they held a ten-point advantage over Germany and Denmark. The British pair rose to the occasion in the medal race, taking victory ahead of Germany and New Zealand. Winning the medal race gave British the gold ahead of New Zealand, with Germany overcoming Spain for bronze.

🥇Dylan Fletcher/Stuart Bithell 🇬🇧

🥈Peter Burling/Blair Tuke 🇳🇿

🥉Erik Heil/Thomas Ploessel 🇩🇪

Women’s RS:X

Charline Picon (France) started strongly in the defence of her Olympic title. She took a race win on day one, along with Zofia Noceti Klepacka (Poland) and Lilian de Geus (Netherlands). The star of the second day was Lu Yunxiu (China), who recorded two seconds and a first to climb into third. Picon had another race win and led from Emma Wilson (Great Britain), who won race four. Wilson then took two straight races on day three before a race disqualification. Yunxiu also continued her good form with a fourth, second and first as those two and Picon pulled away from the field. On day four, Wilson took a race win, a fifth and a sixth although the fifth turned into a disqualification. Katy Spychakov (Israel) managed two wins and a fourth, whilst Yunxiu got two seconds and a first. Heading into the medal race Yunxiu led Wilson by four points, with a further two points back to Picon. In a brilliant medal race, Picon took the victory ahead of Wilson and Yunxiu. It left Yunxiu with gold, whilst Wilson was edged on count back for silver.

🥇Lu Yunxiu 🇨🇳

🥈Charline Picon 🇫🇷

🥉Emma Wilson 🇬🇧

Women’s Laser Radial

Cristina Pujol Bajo (Spain) got the win in race one, whilst Svenja Weger (Germany) won in race two. Line Flem Host (Norway) had the best opening day with a first and a third, leaving her ahead of Vasileai Karachaliou (Greece). It was a whole new set of winners on day two as Josefin Olsson (Sweden), Maud Jayet (Switzerland) and Karachaliou took victories. Consistency was the order of the day though as Anne-Marie Rindom (Denmark) took the overall lead ahead of Olsson and Marit Bouwmeester (Netherlands). Rindom then went second and first to take control of the leaderboard on day three. Her gap was 21 points over Tuula Tenkanen (Finland). With a chance to seal it, Rindom had her worst day. None of her rivals had a great day though, Bouwmeester came closest, reducing the deficit to seven points, with Olsson a further eight back. Olsson put the pressure on by winning the medal race. Rindom could only finish seventh, leaving Bouwmeester as the only one able to beat her, but she finished sixth.

🥇Anne-Marie Rindom 🇩🇰

🥈Josefin Olsson 🇸🇪

🥉Marit Bouwmeester 🇳🇱

Women’s 470

On the opening day, Skrzypulec/Ogar (Poland) won both of the races. Lecointre/Retornaz (France) took second and third, Mills/McIntyre (Great Britain) finished third and fourth, whilst Yoshioka/Kondo (Japan) came sixth and seventh. Wins on day two came from Barbachan/Oliveira (Brazil) and the British duo, with Poland remaining consistent. It was France and Poland with wins on day three, but Japan came second in both races and Britain third. Britain took the lead of the contest on day four with a first and third as Poland went fourth and fifth. It was a poor final day for most of the leaders. Britain led by 14 points entering the medal race, as they took a ninth and third. Behind them was the French pair, with Poland a further two back. Britain would finish fifth in the medal race, guaranteeing gold. The battle came for the silver medal spot and a late overtake from Poland allowed them to steal silver from the French team.

🥇Hannah Mills/Eilidh McIntyre 🇬🇧

🥈Agnieszka Skrzypulec/Jolanta Ogar 🇵🇱

🥉Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz 🇫🇷

Women’s 49er FX

It was a great start by Dobson/Tiley (Great Britain), who took the first two race wins. Grael/Kunze (Brazil) took the other win on day one, whilst Roble/Shea (Ireland) impressed with their consistency. Bekkering/Duetz (Netherlands) took the two wins on day two, with the British pair remaining consistently strong. Echegoyen/Barcelos (Spain) had two thirds and a second. None of the front runners particularly impressed on day three, with Britain struggling. Britain again struggled on day four, with five of their last six races finishing outside the top twelve. The Netherlands drew level with the Brazilians entering the medal race. Behind them, two thirds brought Lutz/Beucke (Germany) into third place overall. Spain sat four points behind, with Britain another four behind, heading into the medal race. Finishing third in the medal race saw Brazil retain the gold they won in Rio. Fifth position for Germany was enough to see them take silver, whilst the Dutch pair, who had started the day in first, barely hung on to bronze.

🥇Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze 🇧🇷

🥈Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke 🇩🇪

🥉Annemiek Bekkering/Annette Duetz 🇳🇱

Mixed Nacra 17

It was a super start by Tita/Banti (Italy), who finished first twice and a third. The other race winner on day one was Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer (Germany). Waterhouse/Darmanin (Australia), Gimson/Burnet (Great Britain) and Lange/Carranza (Argentina) all recoreded second-place finishes. The Italians took a second, fifth and first on day two, whilst the British pair took two wins. The Italians went eighth, third and second, while Great Britain came fifth, tenth and first on day three to leave themselves a good gap. It was the Australian who had the best day three, taking a first race win. On day four, Italy would do all but seal the victory, coming first and two seconds. Behind them was the British pair with a fifth, second and fourth. The team of the day was undoubtedly Cenholt/Lubeck (Denmark) with two firsts and a third, but they were out of medal contention. Argentina won the medal race ahead of Denmark. British would finish fifth, enough to take silver, behind the Italian pair who tracked them round into sixth.

🥇Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti 🇮🇹

🥈John Gimson/Anna Burnet 🇬🇧

🥉Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer 🇩🇪