MEN’S TWO PERSON DINGHY (470)

Mat Belcher and Will Ryan are on the cusp of greatness, as they will take an almost unassailable 20-point lead into tomorrow's Men's 470 Medal Race. If they contest the race and avoid any false start penalties they will be crowned Olympic Champions.
 
And how is Ryan feeling on the eve of what could be a very special day?
 
“Happy, for sure. The last race was probably the worst race we have sailed this whole event, so that was when we had to control some boats in the fleet to confirm where we were going to be in the points standings. But we couldn’t have asked for a better week in terms of our performance.”
 
Ryan was knows that history awaits if they can get through tomorrow unscathed. “Tomorrow is the last race for the Men’s 470 as a class at the Olympics, so I don’t know if that means you are a gold medallist for eternity but that’s the plan. Tomorrow we will just do all the right things, we want to do this for our coach and all the supporters back home.”
 
The race will be broadcast on one of Channel 7's digital channels (7, 7Two or 7Mate depending on which state you are in) from 3:30pm AEST, so tune in to watch the guys as they race for Gold.

WOMEN’S TWO PERSON DINGHY (470)

Fremantle Sailing Club’s Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries have wrapped up their first Olympic experience, and whilst results may have not gone their way they are aware of how far they have come as a team in a short period of time.
 
“To think that five years ago I had only just come out of the 420s and Monique had only just started learning how to crew,” Jerwood said today. “But we have had so many people offer us so much support along the way and are acknowledge that we never would have come this far without that help.”
 
“We are probably a little bit disappointed with our performance, but it was a huge achievement for us to be here. We’ve had an interesting five years starting from scratch so it is an amazing journey we have been on,” added de Vries.
 
It was a bitter-sweet finish, as the team have relished their Olympic opportunity but Jerwood noted that with the removal of the Women’s 470 from the Paris 2024 slate that this is the last time the team will race together in this class.
 
“The week didn’t quite go our way, but it has been an amazing experience to be here and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else other than Monique. To have those five years together has been amazing.”

MIXED MULTIHULL (NACRA 17)

Jason and Lisa threw everything they had at overturning a 7-point deficit to the German team for third place coming into today's Medal Race. The cousins got away to a blistering start where they forced the German team to the rear of the fleet, but as the gap narrowed they were forced to take some risks which ultimately did not result.

The team can be incredibly proud of their performance here in Tokyo and over the past five years. They overcame huge challenges with their preparation, and despite not having any international competition for the 18-months leading into the Games they were able to produce their second consecutive Olympic top-five finish.

MEN’S ONE PERSON DINGHY HEAVYWEIGHT (FINN)

Jake Lilley’s Olympic dream seemed shattered just six weeks ago. The big Queenslander today revealed that he had torn his meniscus in a training mishap and spent four of the last six weeks of his Olympic preparation in a straight-leg cast with limited mobility.
 
So the fact that he was on the start line at all was a minor miracle, even more so that he qualified for today’s Medal Race where he finished in third place.
 
“We wanted to keep it under wraps because we were concerned about my ability to tack the boat and we didn’t want to use it as an excuse or have others use it against us and make me tack more than I needed to this week,” Lilley said after the race.
 
“It was quite a serious operation, but the team never stopped believing and put a lot of faith in me and helped a lot to make sure we could get here.”
 
Today’s race marked the last for the Finn class at the Olympics, drawing to a close Jake’s time with the team.
 
“It’s hard to put all of my emotions in to words on the spot right now,” Lilley continued. “I’ve been involved in this team for a very long time and am very grateful for all of the support and the time I’ve had with everyone. We were pretty determined to finish on a high so we put together a really good plan, I executed the start and put together a nice race.”