Race Day 3 - Radial report
Written by RYA | 31 July 2012
Young shows her Olympic potential
If Alison Young showed a glimpse of her Olympic potential on day one of her London 2012 regatta yesterday, her performance in Weymouth and Portland today (Tuesday 31 August) left no one in any doubt at all that she can mix it at the top of the fleet.
The 25-year-old, making her Olympic debut at these Games, scored two hugely impressive second places today to edge her way up to fourth overall after four races. Ireland’s Annalise Murphy has dominated the event so far with four straight wins.
Bewdley-raised Young revelled in breezes of 15-16 knots, firstly on the spectator Nothe course before moving inside the wall into Portland Harbour for race two.
Ali said: “It was a good day out there, two seconds so I‘m pretty pleased with that. It was a bit better than yesterday and a good place to build the rest of the regatta from. I started better today which made life a little bit easier.
“The Irish boat is quick in the breeze. She’s always proved that so it will be a good challenge for the rest of the week. These conditions suit me I guess, we’ve done a lot of training here so I’m pretty happy we’ve got a bit of a handle on the venue.”
It was on the starts that Ali set the tone for both races, getting away cleanly from the middle of the pack, avoiding getting herself bunched in the middle, and ensuring she was able to monopolise on clean air to generate maximum boat speed.
Ali added: “We’re expecting 25 knots tomorrow so it sounds like it could be a bit of a breezy one. I think we’re on the West course so there could be some waves as well so it should be fun. It’s my Olympic debut so I’m really enjoying it, it is great fun!”
The Laser Radials are scheduled to resume at 12pm (races five and six) on the Weymouth Bay West course tomorrow. The fleet will be able to discard their worst score of the regatta after the completion of five races.
The Olympic Sailing Regatta runs from Sunday 29 July – Saturday 11 August. The Laser Radial medal race is scheduled for Monday 6 August (1pm).
Read more about: