Radial Report - Medal Race Day
Written by RYA | 06 August 2012
Young Eyes Rio After Debut Fifth
Alison Young admitted her first Olympics had been a “great experience” after completing her London 2012 regatta in a hugely creditable fifth place at Weymouth and Portland today (Monday 6 August).
Debutant Ali, who began her Olympic adventure last Monday, came fourth in today’s final double points’ Laser Radial medal race to secure her top five overall placing in the 41-strong fleet.
The 25-year-old was one of the final sailors to be selected for Team GB in May and immediately justified the nod with a career-best fourth at the 2012 World Championships in Germany before she won her first ever senior World Cup event, Sail for Gold Regatta.
And Ali continued to prove her credentials throughout this event with a string of impressive results, including a hat-trick of second places midway through the regatta.
Now the Trimpley Sailing Club woman is already looking ahead four years.
Young said: “I will definitely be going onto to Rio. This Olympics has been a great experience and lots of lessons have been learnt to take forwards. It’s just cutting down a few of the errors and making every little bit count so I’ll be working on that. I’m disappointed with the end result but it has been a great experience.”
The Laser Radial class was won by Lijia Xu (CHN), with Marit Bouwmeester (NED) claiming silver and Evi Van Acker (BEL) the bronze medal.
Young added: “It was a good bit of racing in the medal race. The Chinese girl sailed great all week, all the top three did, and Annalise Murphy (Ireland) in fourth. It’s been fantastic racing. I’m just going to spend the rest of the day catching up with my parents and watching the racing.”
In breeze of 12-14 knots Young broke clear of the start line as most of the fleet headed out to the left of the course. The Brit rounded the first mark in third place, while Xu, who had gone out right, rounded second. After the Chinese sailor completed penalty turns for illegal pumping, Young took over at the head of the fleet.
She held firm towards the front of the fleet until two marks from home, before the three girls who claimed the medals took control in the top three positions with Xu crossing the line first to claim the gold medal.
The Olympic Sailing Regatta runs from Sunday 29 July – Saturday 11 August.
Read more about: