Australia’s tight-knit Laser squad has made a solid start to its campaign with Tom Burton and Luke Elliott securing first-up wins on a day of building breeze at the 2018 World Championships in Denmark.

The Lasers – 165 boats split into three fleets – had two races and the Australians each ended the day in good shape.

“Obviously it’s a good feeling. I don’t think I’ve done that before at a World Championships,” Rio gold medallist Burton said of his bullet in Race 1.

Tom Burton won the silver medal at the previous Worlds. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

“Normally my first race sometimes ends up being my drop. So this is a better start than normal.

“We’re in three groups, so obviously the quality is divided by three, based off the world rankings. There are still some good guys in the fleet, but it’ll be nothing compared to gold fleet. And that will be where you start to rack up some serious points.”

Burton is 4th overall, Matt Wearn 7th, Finn Alexander 12th and Elliott 13th after winning  in Race 2, while Mitch Kennedy is in 22nd.

“My day was really good,” Kennedy said.

“I came away with some solid top 10 results. And I think the other boys were pretty similar. As a whole we had a really good day.

“It was pretty champagne sailing out there, really. The breeze gently built throughout and we got up to about 12 or 14 knots in the end before it died off, so it was really good, some nice sailing.”

Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries were pleased with their second day effort in the 470W, steering away from the pack and making improvements.

“We had a little bit more of a solid day today,” Jerwood said.

“They decided not to split our fleet, so we’re sailing in 47 boats, which is quite tricky. It’s really important to get out of the congestion. … I think today we were being a little bit more gutsy to get away from the fleet and sail our own race a little bit. That helped.”

De Vries said the pair had adjusted their starts. 

“We actually got off the line a lot better today than yesterday, so we managed to get clear off the line and get out in front a bit earlier,” she said.

“So we weren’t trying to fight through the fleet, we were just hanging out the front a little bit more. We ended up with a few top 20 results and that’s going to put us in good stead for the rest of the event, I think.”

The going was not quite as fruitful for their male colleagues, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan, who after three Day 2 races, are placed 10th. The defending champions scored a discarded 13 in the first hit-out, before scoring 8 and 4. Teammates Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson are 35th.

Jake Lilley made a move up the leaderboard after the three Day 2 Finn races, recovering from a dropped 23 to nab a 6 and 2 and rise to 23rd, though colleagues Oli Tweddell and Tom Slingsby each lost ground.

Zoe Thomson had the best outcome in the Laser Radial. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

Racing started also in the Laser Radial with Zoe Thomson claiming the best Australian result among the day’s two races, 15th, and placing 41st overall.

The Finn, Laser Standard, Laser Radial and 470s will be joined tomorrow on the waters off Aarhus by the 49er men’s and women’s skiffs.

Nia Jerwood (R) and Monique de Vries were pleased with their day. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

FAST FACTS

Approximately 1500 sailors from 100 countries are competing at Aarhus in 1100 boats.

This is the fifth edition of the Sailing World Championships. The event is held every four years.

The previous World Championships were held at Cadiz, Spain (2003), Cascais, Portugal (2007), Perth, Australia (2011) and Santander, Spain (2014).

Australia won four medals at Santander: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (gold 470M), Tom Burton (silver, Laser), Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (bronze, 49er) and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (bronze, Nacra 17).

At the past three Olympic Games Australian sailors won five gold medals and four silver medals.

HOST SITE - www.aarhus2018.com

RESULTS

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The Australian Sailing Team will have daily coverage, including video highlights, interviews, photographs and stories on our website and social media channels. See addresses below.

AUSTRALIAN TEAM AND SQUAD RESULTS

Finn

Jake Lilley – 20, (23), 6, 2 – 23rd

(Tom Slingsby) – 11, (18), 16, 17 – 34th

Oliver Tweddell – 11, 17, (24), 21 – 39th

Lewis Brake – (34), 14, 23, 17 – 42nd

Jock Calvert – (44), 24, 17, 26 – 52nd

470M

Mat Belcher/Will Ryan – 3, (13), 8, 4 – 10th

Chris Charlwood/Josh Dawson – 19, 12, 10, (20) – 35th

470W

Nia Jerwood/Monique de Vries – (35), 16, 14, 22 – 23rd

Dana Tavener/Katherine Shannon – 27, (41), 26, 40 – 40th

Laser

Tom Burton – 1, 5 – 4th

Matt Wearn – 7, 4 – 10th

Finn Alexander – 6, 7 – 12th

Luke Elliott – 13, 1 - 13th

Mitch Kennedy – 8, 10 – 22nd

Laser Radial

Zoe Thomson – 28, 15 – 41st

Elyse Ainsworth – 21, 27 – 45th

Mara Stransky – 27, 34 – 65th

49er

David Gilmour/Joel Turner

Will Phillips/Iain Jensen

Lachy Gilmour/Ryan Donaldson

Kurt Hansen/Harry Morton

49erFX

Tess Lloyd/Jaime Ryan

Amelia Stabback/Ella Clark

Natasha Bryant/Annie Wilmot

Nacra 17

Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin

Nathan Outteridge/Haylee Outteridge

Paul Darmanin/Lucy Copeland

Conor Nicholas/Hayley Clark

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