Olympic Sailing 2024: Medal Race beckons for 470 and Nacra 17 Classes

The Italian pair started the day on the wrong foot, getting disqualified from race ten due to an early start. However, they recovered and finished the day with a strong second which puts them 14 points clear at the top of the Nacra 17 rankings.

Argentina’s Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco cemented their status as the primary challengers with first in race ten and second in race 11, meaning they are the only crew that can tip the Italians to gold.

Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet moved up to third with a brilliant performance on the water that culminated in a race win. They can take nothing for granted, as they sit level on points with New Zealand’s Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson.

Tita said: “There’s not going to be a match race, we are going to try and do our race, control the situation based on the points we have. Second, third and fourth are going to have a big battle and we’re going to try and stay out of that and do our race and control the advantage that we have.”

Majdalani said: “I think if you told us that we’d go into the Medal Race in second place we’d take it, so we are really, really happy. We are a bit sad with our last race that didn’t go our way. We know it’s tight in third and we need to debrief with the team to find the game plan.”

Gimson said: “We’ll sit down and take a look at everything tonight and make a plan from there.”

Burnet said: “We finally had the right strategy today – the right start, good speed. We actually went the right way which was a nice change for us. We’re confident in our speed in this wind and you can’t really do much more than focus on the details and executing your own plan, so we’ll try and do that.”

Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr ended the Opening Series with a surge to top of the standings in the Mixed Dinghy. The Austrian duo picked up a fifth and second on the water to head into the Medal Race with a seven-point advantage.

Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman remained in second after placing third in race seven. Japan’s Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka opened the day with ninth in race seven, but recovered in race eight to cross the line third, putting them four points off the Spanish crew.

No crew has secured a medal heading into the deciding race tomorrow.

Vadlau said: “We have to sail smart tomorrow. We have almost no advantage. We are here to win a medal, this was our goal from the beginning and now we are in a really good position. It all depends on tomorrow.”

Maehr said: “It’s a big relief, it’s nice to start with a little bit of a point advantage. We will talk with our coach about the plan and we’ll enjoy going into the Medal Race in first position.”

Xammar said: “Tricky day. Could be worse, could be better. We’re only focusing on the medal race. Tomorrow we’re going to sail the race of our lives.”

Yoshioka said: “The gap between second and fourth is very close. The gold is far away, but we can aim for a silver medal.”

How it works:
Medals for the Mixed Dinghy (470) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 19-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.

At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The crew with the smallest overall points total will win gold.

Medals for the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17) be decided by the cumulative results of the 19-strong fleet over 12 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.

At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The crew with the smallest overall points total will win gold.