World Championship high five for Rickham and Birrell
Written by RYA | 30 August 2013
Paralympic SKUD pairing take fifth straight World Championship title
Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell claimed an emphatic fifth straight SKUD World Championship victory at the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships in Kinsale, Ireland, today (30 August).
The 2012 Paralympic bronze medallists concluded the five-day regatta counting all race wins across the seven-race series to claim the world crown by a six-point margin over the Italian team of Marco Gualandris and Marta Zanotti.
Theirs was the sole podium spot for the British Sailing Team across the three Paralympic classes, with the Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas finishing fifth, and Megan Pascoe the top British 2.4mR sailor in eighth.
Helena Lucas, the 2.4mR Paralympic champion, started the day in fourth and in medal contention, but the steering mechanism on her boat failed in the first of two races on the final day to see her medal hopes slide. She finished ninth.
Epsom’s Rickham and Birrell, from Knutsford, had struggled with their race starts during the regatta, but today finally beat the Italian SKUD pairing in the race to the first turning mark and from there never looked back. They won both races on this final day to secure the gold medal.
The 31-year-old Rickham admitted that although the scoreline reads quite heavily in their favour, they certainly didn’t have it all their own way on the racecourse this week.
“It definitely wasn’t as easy as it looked. The Italians and the Canadians who were the other two medallists, pushed us pretty hard – particularly the Italians,” explained Rickham.
“We didn’t manage to get round the windward mark first until the very first race, so we were very proud of ourselves at that point!”
“Our downwind speed has been really good and we’ve worked a bit on that so it’s nice to see the fruits of the work paying off,” she continued.
“Obviously we’re massively excited to keep a clean sheet on the World Championship front and to bring another [title] home for the team."
The British pairing, who’ve sailed together since January 2008, have both the 2013 world and European titles, but there’s no denying that a Paralympic gold is still firmly in their sights for 2016 after missing out last year.
“We have that one elusive title that we need to get our hands on, so we have quite a lot of work on for the next three years to try and make that happen.
“But it’s been a good week. It’s been a tough week, but we’ve learnt a load of lessons so in terms of moving our sailing forward it’s been really, really worthwhile being here in Kinsale so we’re looking to the rest of the Road to Rio!”
In the Sonar fleet, Robertson, Stodel and Thomas had improved their overnight position from fifth to fourth, thanks to protests involving other teams but had a testing day on the water to end their regatta in fifth overall.
The trio has had a low-key 2013 training and competition season so on that basis, Robertson feels their finishing position is a fair one at this stage of the game.
“I think we’ve made just a few little mistakes this week which cost us pretty much,” the Sunderland sailor explained.
“We’ve also been messing round with the rig a bit and just testing and trying out a few bits and bobs.
“We’re not bitterly disappointed, but we’re not overjoyed at finishing fifth. It’s probably about right to be honest.”
Megan Pascoe rounded her regatta off in the one-person 2.4mR class with a 4,8 to finish eighth overall, while there was disappointment for Helena Lucas who had been in medal contention heading in the final day in fourth place.
The Paralympic gold medallist suffered steering failure while leading the first race of the day, but managed to finish 13th before the mechanism completely failed before the start of the second race leaving her unable to start. She finished ninth overall.
Both Pascoe and Lucas will be in World Championship action again in just over a week’s time when the 2.4mR Open World Championship – featuring both disabled and able-bodied sailors – is hosted at Poole Yacht Club from 10-13 September.
For further event information, visit
www.ifdsworlds2013.com
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