Australia’s Tom Burton and Matt Wearne blitzed the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship last week, finishing with gold and silver medals. Now the country’s female Olympic Laser hopefuls are midway through their turn, at the ILCA Laser Radial World Championship July 19 - 24, with a tough second-half looming.

Similar to Saturday, day three at Radial Worlds (Sunday July 21) on Miho Bay, Sakaiminato City Japan, started with optimism, but at times racing was questionable. 

An initial course was set for 15 knots out of the south under moderately rainy skies while the race committee closely monitored a typhoon heading north towards the Sea of Japan. There was no immediate threat to the fleet though the day was long as the wind shifted dramatically and courses were re-set and races abandoned under the influence of the weather phenomenon.

From 111 entries representing 49 countries, Queensland’s Mara Stransky is best placed of the Aussies, in 44^th place at the close of the qualifying series.  “I had good starts but an unwarranted obsession with the righthand side of the course so was struggling to convert the starts to results. Not a good day on paper but lots to take away and I’m keen for the last three days,” she said during her day four preparation.

Close behind Stransky, in 46^th, is Zoe Thomson who reported in overnight: “Conditions were super tricky on Sunday with a typhoon passing off the coast, meaning a nine-hour day on water to finish up our qualifying series.

“The racing was tough and the fleet was pushing hard on the black flag starts. I ended up having a consistently average day but move into the finals racing with plenty to gain as points are so close at the halfway mark.”

The finals series commence today, Monday July 22, and the top three on the leaderboard are Josefin Olsson (SWE), Paige Railey (USA) and Marit Bouwmeester (NED).

Ten nation places for the women's single-handed dinghy in Tokyo will be decided at this world championship, in addition to the 20 already allocated from 2018 events.

Event Website: https://2019worlds.laserjapan.org/radial/
Results: https://2019worlds.laserjapan.org/radial/results/
Photo Galleries: https://www.facebook.com/2019-Laser-Worlds-JAPAN-284629198769700/

Results:

44th Mara Stransky 27, 10, 15, (28), 27 = 79 points
46th Zoe Thomson (35), 12, 25, 21, 22 = 80 points
74th Elyse Ainsworth 50, 27, 30, 11, (57 – RET) = 118 points