Only 10 points separate the top 10 sailors after day one of the 2019 ILCA Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Sakaiminato-City, Japan, where five AST and ASS athletes are vying for a world title and the chance to impress Tokyo 2020 selectors.

After a morning postponement ashore, the 159 sailors from 57 countries were met by sunny skies and light winds for the first two races of the series. Sailors are competing in three fleets across the qualifying series to determine the gold, silver and bronze fleets later in the week.

In the blue fleet’s opening race, American Henry Marshall took line honours, holding off Australia’s Olympic gold medalist Tom Burton who scored the lowest single result of the day among the Australians. On cumulative points Mitch Kennedy is the best-placed Aussie, in 18th.

Matt Wearn is 21st among the international field and on his opening bout he commented: “After a short period onshore waiting for wind we got out on the water to a nice 4-6 knots. As I was in red fleet today it meant for a very long day on the water waiting for the other fleets to start. Not my best day of racing, scoring a 13th and a 7th in the light and shifty conditions. Plenty to work on going forward and I’m looking forward to more racing tomorrow.”

Finn Alexander opened his world title challenge with a 12th then pushed a little too hard in race two. On his Black Flag result in race two Alexander said: “Obviously it’s not the best way to start off the regatta, but I don’t feel like anything drastic needs to change moving forward. It’s a long event and I’ll be taking each day as it comes. Lots of lessons learnt and I’m keen to reset and refocus for tomorrow’s racing.”

Qualifying races continue on Miho Bay on Friday July 5 with two races scheduled in forecast NE 8-12 knots.

To add to the pressure of this world championship, staged July 2 to 9, Olympic hopes are on the line as five sailors will qualify their countries to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Games. This is the third country qualifying event for the Laser Class, with 15 places awarded at the 2018 World Championship and one at the recent Asian Games.

It also marks the start of an extended run of events in the 2020 Olympic host nation which also includes the official Olympic test event and the World Cup Series Enoshima, both in August.

Website including live racing https://2019worlds.laserjapan.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2019-Laser-Worlds-JAPAN-284629198769700/

Results: https://2019worlds.laserjapan.org/standard/results/

Results Laser Standard (159 boats)

18th: Mitch Kennedy 4, 15 = 19 points
21st: Matt Wearn 13, 7 = 20 points
24th: Tom Burton, 2, 21 = 23 points
59th Luke Elliott 29, 13 = 42 points
99th Finn Alexander 12, 53 BFD = 69 points