Gold for New Zealand and China: Olympic Sailing News on Day 12 in Qingdao

China's Jian Yin celebrates her Gold Medal in the Women's RS:X windsurfer. Images copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by SailRaceWin

New Zealand's Tom Ashley added the Olympic Gold medal to his World Championship win in the RS:X Windsurfer in the medal race in Qingdao (see report below). China's Jian Yin took her country' first ever sailing Gold in the Women's RS:X event.

Former (1992) Olympic Gold medal winner, Barbara Kendall showed that, sixteen years on, she is still at the top of the women's windsurfers, finishing sixth in the medal race and sixth overall in the Women's RS:X event in Qingdao. Italy's Alessandra Sensini won the medal race, to give her Silver medal in Qingdao, while Britain's Bryony Shaw took the Bronze medal.


Italy's Alessandra Sensini took Silver in the Women's RS:X. Image copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

In the Star boats, three races were sailed off Qingdao today, in winds of 8-15 knots. Pepper and Williams recorded 13-5-11 placings and have dropped to ninth overall, taking them out of medal contention.

The Swedish pairing of Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom maintained their lead in the class, although losing ground to Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson of Britain, who are now just two points ahead on nett scores, and level on total points. Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada recorded consistent 3-3-3 placings, and are in third place overall, 12 points behind the British, going into tomorrow's medal race.

Whilst the top ten teams mean that all the expected names are in the medal race for the highly competitive Star class, the strong currents and light, shifty winds, have brought those best able to make the most of the conditions to the top of the scoreboard.

See Carl Williams' blog for his view of the racing.

In the Tornado, any of the top four Spanish, Australian, Argentinian and German teams could take gold after tomorrow's medal race.

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.