French Olympic Sailing Week – Medal Results give RYA food for thought

French Olympic Sailing Week at Hyeres finished Saturday with the four medal races.

Safely confirming their early gold medal victories were Italy’s Mattia Camboni in the men’s RS:X and Australia’s Matthew Wearn in the men’s Laser.

And after their medal races, Charline Picon of France in the women’s RS:X and Finland’s Tuula Tenkanen in the women’s Radial also took gold.

This event featured four Olympic events that should be giving the RYA Olympic Selection Committee considerable food for thought.

No podium places, although several of the new, younger members of the British Sailing Team (BST) put down strong markers for Tokyo 2020 selection.

Emma Wilson, RS:X, was again the best placed BST member, finishing fourth with a consistant string of single figure results. This follows a Silver in the recent women’s RS:X European Championship, where she finished ahead of Charline Picon and Peina Chen, who took gold and silver here.

Bryony Shaw who has represented Britain three times at the Olympics, winning Bronze in Beijing in 2008, finished in tenth place, following a 12th place at the Europeans.

In the men’s RS:X, Tom Squires finished sixth, four places ahead of main BST rival Kieren Holmes-Martin. At the Europeans Squires finished 11th to Holmes-Martin’s 21st place.

The next major event for the RS:X is the Olympic Classes Medemblik Regatta in Holland at the end of the month, but the Brits seem to be skipping it, even although they would have got to race against the world-class Dutch board sailors, who did not compete at Hyeres.

There is a similar situation in the Laser/Radial classes.

In the men’s Laser, Elliot Hanson finished fifth in here behind the all conquering Anzac competitors, with team-mate Michael Beckett eighth.

Nick Thompson who represented Team GB in Rio 2016 and is a two-time Laser world champion, finished in 15th. In the recent Mallorca Olympic classes regatta he was third behind Hanson.

In the women’s Radial, Alison Young withdrew for the Hyeres event at mid-point, apparently to ensure she is back to fitness for the upcoming Europeans.

Young has represented Team GB twice, at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and is a former Radial World Champion, but has come under pressure from the new generation, with Georgina Povall and Hannah Snellgrove running her close in Mallorca.

The British selection process will continue in two weeks time (18 May) with the Laser and Radial European Championships in Porto, Portugal.

Other critical Olympic selection events are also lining up:

The 470 Europeans in San Remo, Italy from 9 May, the Finn Europeans in Athens, Greece from 10 May, and the Nacra 17, 49er, 49erFX European Championships at Weymouth, UK from 13 May.

French Olympic Sailing Week Medal Races

RS:X Men – After Medal Race
1st ITA   88 CAMBONI Mattia – – 57 pts
2nd FRA   3 GOYARD Thomas – – 87 pts
3rd POL   82 MYSZKA Piotr – – 90 pts
4th ITA   60 BENEDETTI Daniele – – 98 pts
5th CHN   1 BI Kun – – 140 pts
6th GBR  931 SQUIRES Tom – – 174 pts
7th CHN   10 GAO Mengfan – – 177.5 pts
8th POL   28 FURMANSKI Radoslaw – – 179 pts
9th CHN   25 LI Tao – – 205.4 pts
10th GBR  926 HOLMES-MARTIN Kieran – – 206 pts

RS:X Women – After Medal Race
Gold FRA   4 PICON Charline – – 49 pts
Silver CHN   81 CHEN Peina – – 59 pts
Bronze CHN   7 LU Yunxiu – – 79 pts
4th GBR   7 WILSON Emma – – 91 pts
5th ITA  157 MAGGETTI Marta – – 103 pts
6th RUS   1 ELFUTINA Stefaniya – – 108 pts
7th ISR   7 MORRIS Maya – – 121 pts
8th ISR   32 SPYCHAKOV Katy – – 133 pts
9th ISR   19 DRIHAN Noy – – 134 pts
10th GBR   94 SHAW Bryony – – 156 pts

Laser Men – After Medal Race
Gold AUS 199015 WEARN Matthew – – 16 pts
Silver NZL 216175 MEECH Sam – – 49 pts
Bronze AUS 199012 BURTON Tom – – 55 pts
4th AUS 215612 ELLIOTT Luke – – 56 pts
5th GBR 215685 HANSON Elliot – – 63 pts
6th AUS 214418 FINN Alexander – – 83 pts
7th NZL 215081 SAUNDERS Thomas – – 86 pts
8th GBR 210139 BECKETT Michael – – 88 pts
9th FRA 213932 BERNAZ Jean Baptiste – – 91 pts
10th NZL 214437 GAUTREY George – – 97 pts

Radial Women – After Medal Race
Gold FIN 212072 TENKANEN Tuula – – 59 pts
Silver HUN 211551 ERDI Maria – – 62 pts
Bronze BEL 211552 PLASSCHAERT Emma – – 84 pts
4th SUI 211842 JAYET MAUD – – 104 pts
5th TUR 215399 GUZEL Ecem – – 105 pts
6th POL 210786 BARWINSKA AGATA – – 125 pts
7th AUS 204568 THOMSON Zoe – – 129 pts
8th USA 214458 RAILEY Paige – – 138 pts
9th POL 211313 KWASNA Magdalena – – 148 pts
10th ARG 213977 FALASCA Lucia – – 155 pts

Full results available here