Olympic Games 1996

IYRU Olympic Update

26 JULY 1996 - 1

FOUR DAYS INTO THE OLYMPIC REGATTA

Sailors in Savannah head out to sea for their fifth day of competition on Wassaw Sound and the Atlantic Ocean and today's racing had been brought forward an hour in an attempt to beat the ongoing threat of thunderstorms.

Several thunderstorms bringing lightning, rain, strong winds and steep seas offshore, swept up the Atlantic coast of Georgia again yesterday, forcing scheduled second races to be cancelled on the outer courses.

Despite the wind and seas, damage was minimal although the Fiji sailor in the Men's Single-handed Dinghy (Finn), Geoffrey Taylor, broke his mast during Race 5. Capsizing was commonplace in the smaller dinghy and sailboard classes, both during and after the races.

With more storms threatening, Race Management and the Coast Guard put the storm plan into effect on the outer courses, with power boats taking in tow as many boats as possible to get them back to the shelter of the Day Marina.

Today, all Olympic classes will be racing on the four courses for the first time in the Regatta including the Fleet/Match Race Keelboat (Soling) and the Multihull (Tornado) who resume racing after a two-day break.

In the Fleet/Match Race Keelboat (Soling), Germany's Jochen Schuemann and his crew head the scoreboard with placings of 5-5-2 ahead of the American crew led by Jeff Madrigali who have placed 1-4-8. Third in the standings is Great Britain's Andy Beadsworth and his crew with placings of 7-1-7.

The Multihull (Tornado), has completed only two races to date, with the Spanish crew, Fernando Leon and Jose Ballester leading the pointscore with two second places, followed by Australians Mitch Booth and Andrew Landenberger (AUS) with a first and fifth, and the Austrians, Andreas Hagara and Florian Schneeberger with placings of 4 and 3.

The Two-person Keelboat (Star) is at a vital stage of the Regatta with just one point between Brazil's Torben Grael and Australia's Colin Beashel going into the sixth race. Grael has a net 10 points from palcings of 1-6-2-7-1 while Beashel's placings have been 11-1-1-1-8 for 11 points. American Mark Reynolds (USA), the gold medalist at Barcelona in 1992, is third on 15 points, his placings have been 3-2-5-5-5.

One point separates the top boats in the Men's Single-handed Dinghy (Finn), with Christoph Bergmann (BRA) on 17 points from placings of 19-2-9-1-5 and Fredrik Loof (SWE) on 18 points from placings of 8-3-1-6-14. In third place is Hans Spitzauer (AUT) on 22 points from placings of 4-1-10-7-11.

Australia's Paul McKenzie whose win in yesterday's Race 5 was his first ever victory in an International Finn Regatta, is 10th overall.

Six races of the schedules 11 races have been completed in the Open Dinghy (Laser), with one point separating Brazil's World Champion Robert Scheidt and Great Britain's teenage sailor, Ben Ainslie. Scheidt's scorecard reads 2-9-3-6-1-3 while Ainslie's placings have been 27-4-7-2-2-1. Third overall in the Lasers is Stefan Warkalla (GER) on 23 points from placings of 13-2-2-3-12-4.

In the Women's Single-handed Dinghy (Europe), six races have been completed. Leading the series is Kristine Roug (DEN) with 8 points from placings of 2-1-3-2-1-2. Second is Margriet Matthijsse (NED) with 16 points from PMS-2-1-10-2-1 while third is Courtenay Becker-Dey (USA) on 20 points, placings having been 1-8-2-4-7-6.

The Double-handed Dinghy (470) for men and women opened their series yesterday with two races completed. In the men's event the Ukrainian sailors Yevhen Braslavets and Ihor Matviyenko scored two seconds to head the pointscore from Italy's Matteo Ivaldi and Michelle Ivaldi who placed 9th and 4th. In third place are Marcus Westerlind and Henrik Wallin (SWE) with placings of 6th and 7th.

In the 470 women, Ruslana Taran and Olena Pakholchik (UKR) lead with a 1st and 5th, followed by Barcelona gold medalist Theresa Zabell and Begona Via Dufresne (ESP) with a 4th and a 2nd, and Susanne Ward and her sister Lise Michaela Ward (DEN) have a 6th and a 3rd.

In the Men's Board (Mistral) the overall leader after five races is Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (GRE) with 9 points, placing 5-1-2-6-1. Next is Carlos Espinola (ARG) on 11 points, placing 2-4-4-2-3. Third is Gal Fridman (ISR) placings 1-6-5-3-10 for 15 points.

In the Women's Boards (Mistral), the overall leader after five races is Lai Shan Lee (HKG) on 9 points with a 3-2-2-2-4 scorecard followed closely by New Zealand's gold medalist Barbara Kendall 12 points with placings of 2-3-6-1-10. Third is Alessandra Sensini (ITA) on 15 points from placings of 1-8-1-6-7. Only six points separate the top three.

The Morning Report