Olympic silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have been forced out of the 49erFX sailing world championships in Melbourne after Maloney fractured her foot in training two days ago.
The Yachting New Zealand website reported that the Olympic silver medallist fell awkwardly when performing a tack during practice racing and hurt her foot.
“We didn’t think it was too bad at first,” coach Nathan Handley said. “She came in and iced it and we thought it was just bruised but later on as it was still hurting we got some x-rays and found out there’s a fracture in the foot.”
Maloney and Meech were second at last week’s Oceania championships, the warmup regatta for the 49erFX world championships, and were expected to do well in the generally strong winds forecast for Geelong this week. Racing starts Monday 10 February.
It’s not known what the injury now means for Maloney and Meech’s Olympic buildup. Maloney will return home this week and see a specialist.
Earlier Maloney had commented . . . “It’s pretty cool to have another World’s so soon after the last one. It’s an exciting opportunity to race for a world title.”
New Zealand is yet to name its Olympic sailing team.
The Royal Geelong YC is host of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 2020 World Championship.
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