Fresh breezes have challenged the Australian Sailing Team on a mentally and physically challenging day at the 2020 Laser Men’s Standard World Championships at Sandringham Yacht Club.  

Australia’s selection for the Tokyo Olympics, Matt Wearn, has moved up two places to fourth after focusing on his tactical game. “There were some pretty long shifts out there you had to stay on top of,” Matt said before hopping in an ice bath to recover from the day. “I think I did a pretty good job in the first one playing the game and got things 99% right but I wasn’t quick enough to get the German Philipp Buhl.”  Buhl is currently leading the regatta, ten points ahead of Wearn.

“In the second one I got the strategy all wrong and didn’t go far enough left.  I rounded the top at mid fleet and had to fight my way back to eleventh.”

Luke Elliott is one point behind his teammate in 5th overall despite nursing a suspected pinched nerve in his shoulder. “It was another tough day on the water,” said Luke.

Finn Alexander dropped a few spots to 16th overall after two double digit finishes.  “Both races I wasn’t backing my decision making and was second guessing myself a lot with the strategic calls,” said Finn.  “The first race I didn’t get the strategy right, especially on the down winds so I lost a lot there. The second race I didn’t back myself in my starting position. It was just a day of grinding away and trying to salvage as much as I could.”

It was another tough day for Rio Gold Medalist Tom Burton who sailed a drop today and is sitting in 27th overall. “It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst.  Hopefully I scraped into Gold Fleet and we’ll see where can go from there. In the first race I had a good start and climbed to the top but I’m struggling downwind a little bit. The second race wasn’t my best start and it was a grind, so the legs are pretty sore. I’m looking forward to some sleep tonight.”

Teammate Mitchell Kennedy, 23rd overall, was also feeling the conditions at the end of the day.  “I’ve done a bit of training over the years so my body is pretty conditioned.  I’m hoping by now the legs know what they have to do and the mind will go with it. It was going to be a physical and mental battle out there today.”

Australian Sailing Team Coach Michael Blackburn was looking forward to the fleets splitting after the qualifying races.  “The fleets have been diluted and now we go into Gold Fleet tomorrow so the points will really start to add up.  We are still working on a few things with the boys. There are some strategy elements we can improve on in the second half of the regatta and hopefully we can capitalise on some key areas and keep moving up the leaderboard.”

For more information on the 2020 ILCA Laser Standard Men's World Championship and full results visit: https://sailing.laserinternational.org/public/site/event-site/109

Day Three Results:
Laser (124 entries – three fleets of 40+, three days qualifying six races, then finals and medal race)
4th: Matt Wearn 6, 4, 2, 2, 2, (11) – 16pts
5th: Luke Elliott 3, 6, 2, 1, 10, 7 – 17pts 
16th: Finn Alexander 2, 1, (15), 2, 12, 14 – 31pts
23rd: Mitchell Kennedy (13), 7, 9, 9, 8, 9 – 42pts
27th: Tom Burton 7, 13, 9, 7, 8, (15) – 44pts