MIXED MULTIHULL (NACRA 17)

Australia’s Nacra 17 team of Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin will hit tomorrow’s final three fleet races knowing that another set of strong results will set them up nicely to secure their second consecutive Olympic Medal.

“That was potentially going to be the trickiest day of this week so we are happy to come away with three keepers,” said skipper Waterhouse. “We won the first race in really shifty conditions, and that was the one that we thought we would have to sail quite well strategically to do well in.”

The Rio 2016 silver medallists moved up from fifth to fourth with three top-five finishes today, but they know that anything is still possible. “We’ve still got three more races in tricky conditions and anything can happen,” continued Waterhouse. “Until the Medal Race is over I don’t really mind what the points are.

“It was nice to cross the line first and know that we were catching the fleet though. Another one or two of those tomorrow would be nice.”

MEN’S ONE PERSON DINGHY HEAVYWEIGHT (FINN)

Finn sailor Jake Lilley will be out to qualify for his second consecutive Olympic Medal Race when the class rounds out their fleet racing tomorrow. He sits in ninth position with the top ten qualifying for the Medal Race.
 
“On the first upwind there was big pressure and a big shift on the right, and on the second upwind the exact opposite happened and I ended up on the opposite side of each one,” Lilley said of his first race. “The second race was much better so it was nice to come back with a strong one.”
 
The Finn fleet is one of the closest at these Games, and Lilley knows that anything is possible going into tomorrow’s final two fleet races. “It’s super tight,” Lilley said. “You see the pressure start to pile on some people. You just need to be ready to capitalise when your time comes.”

MEN’S SKIFF (49ER)

Sorrento sailors Will and Sam Phillips wrapped up their inaugural Olympic campaign today painfully short of making Monday’s Medal Race. The brothers finished seven points shy of qualifying after throwing everything they had at the final three fleet races today.
 
“It was cool to be a part of it, and it was just great to try and compete against the best in the world,” said elder brother Will after racing. “That was a pretty special thing to be able to do. Obviously you want to measure yourself against the best.”
 
The fact that they became the first Australian siblings to sail in the same class at the same Olympic Games was not lost on Will. “To be able to do it with my brother Sam was just really special as well.”

WOMEN’S SKIFF (49ER)

Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan wrapped up their Olympic regatta today having left everything and more on the race course. They tackled tricky winds and shifting courses on their way to another day of solid scores.
 
“I think we’ve got to be proud of ourselves and the effort we put in to get here,” Ryan said. “I think we will come away a bit disappointed with the result, we would have liked to have done better as we felt we were capable of more but that’s the nature of the Olympics.”
 
This was Lloyd’s first Olympics, one she wasn’t sure she was going to make after suffering a serious injury nine years ago. “It’s quite special for me and Jaime,” Lloyd said. “It’s been a long journey and I am just really happy to be here at the Olympics after everything that has gone on along the way.”
 
Ryan is backing up from sailing the 470 at the Rio Olympics, but the class of boat wasn’t the only difference this time around. “It has been really different to Rio,” Ryan concluded. “In many ways it has felt a lot like any other regatta as all the extra excitement has been taken away, but then again there have been a whole lot more processes and restrictions to get through including the COVID tests daily and all the extra safety and security processes that we have been operating under.”