British trio secure Rio golds
Written by RYA | 22 December 2014
Dempsey, Shaw and Scott claim top honours on 2016 waters
Nick Dempsey, Bryony Shaw and Giles Scott ensured a winning end to 2014 with the British trio earning a hattrick of gold medals at the Copa Brasil de Vela in Rio.
The five-day regatta (16-20 December), held on the 2016 Olympic waters of Guanabara Bay, threw up some expectedly challenging conditions but the trio amassed some impressive scorelines, with Scott continuing his Finn class dominance to close out victory a day early with eight race wins and three second places from his 11 races.
Dempsey was also assured of at least a silver medal heading into the final day of the RS:X men’s windsurfing event, and managed to hold on to the top spot with a third place in the final double-points medal race.
“The medal race went to plan and I managed to close it out,” wrote the double Olympic medallist on his
Facebook page.
“It's been a tough week of racing and a really nice way to finish the year. So happy to be back racing at my best, it's been a while.”
Shaw made it two regatta wins in a row with her RS:X Women’s gold in Rio adding to victory at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi last month.
With an eight point lead going into the medal race, the Olympic bronze medallist won the race to then double that margin over Brazil’s Patricia Freitas, while Shaw’s teammate Izzy Hamilton was unlucky to miss out on the podium spots, finishing fourth.
The 470 Europeans Champions Luke Patience and Elliot Willis also narrowly missed out on the medals, finishing fourth in their event, while Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark and Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre were fifth and sixth respectively in the 470 Women’s class.
Alison Young concluded her run of four regattas in four weeks on three continents with a sixth in the Laser Radial event, while Podium Potential sailors Elliot Hanson and Lorenzo Chiavarini were sixth and ninth respectively following the Laser medal race.
Podium Potential Finn sailor Ben Cornish also featured in final day action, finishing second in the heavyweight dinghy medal race to close out his first Rio regatta in ninth place.
Click here for the full list of results from the 2014 Copa Brasil de Vela.
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