Summer Paris 2024 - Sailing

[Caesar]

Thought I'd pop a thread in here. Not sure how many will be watching but sometimes we get a bit of interest towards the end of the regatta if Australians are in the mix for medals.

There are 10 sailing events at Paris 2024

• Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
• Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
• Men’s Kite – Formula Kite
• Women’s Kite – Formula Kite
• Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 (aka Laser full rig)
• Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 (aka Laser Radial)
• Men’s Skiff – 49er
• Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
• Mixed Dinghy - 470
• Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

I am really only interested in the skiffs and dinghies, but will give a brief preview on the others and perhaps those with an interest in the foilers and multihulls will flesh it out and keep this thread updated during the regatta.

Men's ICLA 7 Dinghy

Start here because this is probably Australia's best medal chance. Australia has had a mortage on this event since London 2012 with Tom Slingsby, Tom Burton and Matt Wearn winning successive gold. Wearn is the hot favourite to defend his title, having won gold at the last 2 World Championships and also the Olympics test event.

Wearn will likely face his strongest competition from Cypriot veteran Pavlos Kontides (memorably taking silver behind Slingsby in London) and Brit Micky Beckett (second behind Wearn at last year's Worlds, and runner-up in the test event).

Women's ICLA 6 Dinghy

Defending gold medallist Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) is the woman to beat here. She is in good form after winning the worlds, but lost to Marit Brouwmeester (NED) in a boilover at the test event. Emma Plasschart (BEL) is also one to watch, as she has had good results without breaking through recently.

Australia's representative in this event is Zoe Thomson, who is a very good young sailor from WA but inexperienced at the top level. She will probably be targeting a top-10 finish, and if she gets it that would be an outstanding result at this point in her career.

Men's 49er Skiff

This event is all about the battle between the great Dutch crew of Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken (who dominated the class from 2021 to 2023 with three straight world championships), and the tearaway French pair of Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin (who pipped them at the post at this year's worlds). Fischer and Pequin will be loving the conditions in Marseilles, and with home water advantage they will be liking their chances. The Spanish team (Diego Botin and Florien Trittel) will also be in strong contention.

The Australian team is Jim Colley and Shaun Connor, who are not part of the first tier of contenders but have had some strong results (notably a silver at the 2023 Olympic Week, a major French regatta). With some good sailing and some good luck, they are in with an outside chance for a medal.

Women's 49erFX Skiff

This event is likely to be a very intriguing battle. The Brazilian pair of Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze are chasing their third gold in this event, but their form has been patchy in more recent times. Chasing them are a bunch of European teams who are likely to revel in the light conditions forecast for Marsailles. Most notable are the Dutch (Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, reigning world champions), Swedes (Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler, 2023 world champs and runners up this year), and Norwegians (Helene Naess and Marie Ronningen, strong winners at a stacked 2023 European Championships). The French pair (Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon) should also enjoy their home waters.

The Australian pair in this event are Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine. Price is a former silver medallist (Elliots match-racing at London 2012). They have been in and around the top 10 and snatched bronze at the Worlds last year, but prefer heavier conditions than forecast so probably an outside chance for a medal.

Mixed 470 Dinghy

The Spanish pair of Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman are the reigning world champions in this event, and the team to beat. The French pair of Camille Lecointre and Jeremie Mion will fancy their chances, having won the test event. The British (Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube) and Japanese (Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka) rounded out the podium behind the Spanish at the Worlds, and should also be in the mix.

Australians have a strong record in the 470 class, with 6 medals at previous events, but this is the first time the classes have been merged into a mixed event. Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas are our representatives and although good sailors, probably not in medal contention.

Other Classes

I don't know much about the contenders in other classes, but here is a rundown of the Australian chances as I understand them (hopefully someone else can flesh these out):

• Mixed Nacra 17 Multihull: Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown were surprise qualifiers and are not really expected to be in the hunt for medals, a top-10 result would be outstanding for them.
• Men's iQfoil Windsurfer: Grae Morris is 20 years old and has achieved some outstanding results in the last 12 months, including a close second at his last regatta after leading into the final race. Definitely a dark horse but probably more likely a star of the future.
• Women's Formula Kite: Breiana Whitehead is ranked 4th in the world and comes into the event with extremely strong form. A very good chance for a medal.

No Aussies in the women's windsurfer or the men's kite.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Thanks Caesar I was hoping you or BruceFromBalnarring might start a specific thread and keep us novices informed.

One question I have is, why do they continually change the boats at the Olympics? I know the IOC liked miked events for geneder equality reasons and that's part pf the answer, but every Olympics they seem to make changes to the type of boats that compete. Is anything driving this?

 

[Caesar]

Day 2 (First day of sailing)

Absolute mess of a day. Light, fluky winds meant that the windsurfing was cancelled and the Men's and Women's Skiffs were all over the place.

In the Men's 49ers the NZ pair came out on top with a win in the first race, closely followed by the Irish team. The favourites generally had a 'mare, with the Dutch and French crews having days they would rather forget. Not a good day on the water for the Aussies either, they currenly sit in 16th. But with only 3 of 12 races down, there is still plenty of sailing left. Drama in the jury room as well, with the Brazilians penalised for polishing their hull after inspection.

Women's 49erFXs was slightly less chaotic with the Dutch nominally securing the lead after 3 races. The French are hot on their heels after 3x2nds, with the Germans also quite consistent. However the Brazilians have slipped down the rankings a little and the Norwegians and Swedes had a poor showing, leaving themselves with a lot of work to do.

 

[two blue tiger]

Friend of mine knows Matt Wearn and says he is all class as both a yachtsman and even more so as a person. Hope he can bring home the back to back.

 

[Caesar]

One question I have is, why do they continually change the boats at the Olympics? I know the IOC liked miked events for geneder equality reasons and that's part pf the answer, but every Olympics they seem to make changes to the type of boats that compete. Is anything driving this?

Historically there has been an attempt to rotate the boats to provide a bit of equity amongst sailors, particularly globally (as different classes are popular in different parts of the world). A boat being selected for the Olympics really raises the interest in sailing that type of hull and a lot of popular boats over the years have had their fleets boosted by inclusion.

In recent years the changes are mostly I think just an attempt to raise interest. The boats that are going are all heavy displacement boats, which are slow and generally not exciting for the casual viewers. Pretty much every boat that comes in is a foiler or lightweight skiff - i.e. speed machines.

2028 will be unchanged, but longer-term I think it's fair to say the 470 is on its way out (the men's and women's event have been consolidated into a single mixed this time around). The Laser is only hanging on because it is just so massively popular globally, probably only a matter of time til it is replaced by a single-person foiler.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Friend of mine knows Matt Wearn and says he is all class as both a yachtsman and even more so as a person. Hope he can bring home the back to back.

He sailed here in Adelaide at the world championship for his boat class Laser/ILCA7 and a couple of people I know meet him and said he was generous with his time and spent 15 minutes talking to them. They don't do sailing so he explained some basic to them.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

2028 will be unchanged, but longer-term I think it's fair to say the 470 is on its way out (the men's and women's event have been consolidated into a single mixed this time around). The Laser is only hanging on because it is just so massively popular globally, probably only a matter of time til it is replaced by a single-person foiler.

What does that mean for the coaching and knowledge infrastructure built up the last 25 years or so by Victor Kovalenko and his assistants and Australian sailing in general. I know Victor is semi retired, but how easy will it be to transfer that sail knowledge and coaching skill build up over a generation to another boat class?

 

[Caesar]

4GIBBINS34 Jezzza YOTC year of the cat Wallaby BGman Forward Press JackNah_8

 

[Caesar]

What does that mean for the coaching and knowledge infrastructure built up the last 25 years or so by Victor Kovalenko and his assistants and Australian sailing in general. I know Victor is semi retired, but how easy will it be to transfer that sail knowledge and coaching skill build up over a generation to another boat class?

I don't know to be honest! Most sailors move through multiple classes in their careers and although they may perform better in some than others, a good sailor is a good sailor. That said the move to foils is certainly a big evolution.

I was talking with one of the top SailGP skippers a couple of months ago and asked him how well traditional displacement sailing skills translate to the SailGP boats. He said that once you get used to the balance issues involved in foiling, it's just sailing and everything else applies. So likely most of the knowledge will translate?

But he also said that most of the top foiling sailors are ex-displacement sailors like him, and we are only just starting to see the first generation of 'foiling-first' sailors come through. He reckons there will probably be a bit of a seismic shift in tactics once these guys get to the top, as they will have ideas unencumbered by traditional sailing thinking.

 

[Jezzza]

Looks like another frustrating day on the water, hot with fickle winds again. Maybe they should have held the sailing at La Franqui

Olivia & Evie doing well.

Australian Sailing has a website for the olympics with daily updates and live tracking.

Home - Australian Sailing - Team

The Australian Sailing Team is the national representative Team for sailing and comprises some of the leading Olympic and Paralympic Class sailors in the world

www.australiansailingteam.com.au

 

[Caesar]

The World Sailing website is the best place to get detailed results:

World Sailing | Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Results Centre

Official World Sailing Results Centre for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games sailing regatta; with live race, timings and results information.

paris2024.sailing.org

If you go to Individual Races, scroll down to the bottom, and click on Race Analysis it will give you a PDF with all the race progression data and a bunch of performance stats for each boat.

If anyone is interested in doing detailed results analysis, I have a bit of Python code to scrape the website and pull out all the PDF data into tables. I don’t have the time to analyse it atm, might get to it after the regatta.

 

[Caesar]

Kiwis absolutely crushing it in the Men’s Skiff.

For those not familiar with how sailing regattas work - you get points over a series of races commensurate with your placing in each race (1 for 1st, 2 for 2nd etc). At the end of the regatta you drop your worst result, and the team with the lowest net score wins.

The Olympics adds some excitement with a final ‘Medal Race’ for the top 10 boats, which earns double points and cannot be dropped. This typically keeps the results alive (at least on paper) until the last day.*

Every sailor sails regattas differently, but a typical strategy for the top contenders is to race relatively conservatively over the first half of the regatta, and try to maintain a fairly consistent top 5ish finish without necessarily going for wins. This hopefully allows them to stay in striking distance of the lead while preserving a low drop score, allowing them to keep their powder dry - seeing who emerges as a threat and who rules themselves out of contention with bad results.

Maintaining a low drop score early on is critical, because it lets you take targeted risks towards the end of the regatta when you know who your biggest competition is. If two racers are sitting on a similar net score but one is defending a really poor dropped result, they are far more tactically limited during the final races.

In this context, after 6/13 races it’s a bit crazy that the Kiwis are dropping an 8th as their worst result whilst every other team is dropping at least a 15th. They are really in the drivers seat now and unless they really screw something up, everyone else is sailing for silver.

(*at least that's how it works for the dinghies and skiffs - I believe the kites and windsurfers have a slightly different system with knockout rounds instead of a single medal race)

 

[Jezzza]

Not strictly sailing related but the Backchat Podcast has had a series of interviews with past & present Olympians. Matt Wearn was one of those interviewed, some others include Anna Meares, Rachelle Hawkes & Eddie Ockenden.

For those with a few miles on the clock (like me) the interviewer is Mark Foreman who is the son of Wally Foreman a renowned sports broadcaster in WA & the initial director of the WA Institute of Sport.

 

[Jezzza]

Race Program

 

[katana]

only really following the 49ers so far. nz crew seemed to struggle big time in the fresher stuff, very unsual for kiwi skiffies. another three good results and we should get the aussie boys in the medal race.

 

[Jezzza]

Fantastic day of sailing by Grae moved into the lead overall of the Windsurfer Class.

Paris Olympics Day Four – Dream Day for Morris in Marseille

Australia’s Grae Morris has moved into first overall after a dream day in the Men’s Windsurfer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

www.australiansailingteam.com.au

Australia’s Grae Morris has moved into first overall after a dream day in the Men’s Windsurfer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.


Morris was fifth coming into the day, but a race win, two seconds and a ninth were good enough to give him the lead by one point over Polish athlete Pawel Tarnowski.

“It was a day about being accurate so that was going through my head on repeat,” said Morris about his performance.


“I was able to stay cool, calm and collected. Looking around, it looks like the fleet's very amped up and people are getting a bit frustrated so just being on the other end of that, I think gave me the step ahead.”


There is one last day of qualifying races to come before the Medal Race Series. The highest ranked rider from the qualifying series goes straight to the Final, with second and third qualifying for the Semi Final and fourth to tenth the cut-throat Quarter Final.


“I’m super happy but I’ve just got to keep in mind what's to come. There's plenty of races and plenty of opportunity for anything to happen. It's not finished.”

 

[Jezzza]

Grae now guaranteed a medal after finishing 1st in the qualifying series, awesome effort! Matt Wearn also started his campaign yesterday & made a solid start, sitting 2nd after 2 races.

Paris Olympics Day Five – Morris assured a Medal at debut Games

Grae Morris is assured of a medal in the Men’s Windsurfer after finishing the Paris 2024 qualifying series in first place

www.australiansailingteam.com.au

Grae Morris is assured of a medal in the Men’s Windsurfer after finishing the Paris 2024 qualifying series in first place. He will go straight into tomorrow’s Final which will feature just the three sailors in one frenetic race to decide the colour of their medal from 10pm AEST.


“It does ease my mind a little knowing that I'll be coming home with something in my hand, but I won’t be fully satisfied until it's over,” said Morris.

Morris entered the day with a one-point lead, and after three top ten finishes he had pushed that out to three points over Israeli athlete Tom Reuveny with New Zealander Josh Armit another three points back.


He will now become the first Australian to win a medal in Windsurfing since Lars Kleppich brought home Bronze from Barcelona 92 on the Mistral board.


The Medal Series commences with a Quarter Final for the riders ranked fourth to tenth from the qualifying series. The top two from that race move to the Semi Final with the riders ranked second and third, with the top two from that race qualifying for the Final where Morris awaits.


When asked what his preparation for tomorrow looked like, the man known as “Go Go Grae Morris” responded “Big dinner, good dessert and a great sleep.”

 

[katana]

some reasonably strong winds forecast over the weekend, suits matt well i believe.

 

[getthefooty]

For the windsurfers out there, how much of a lottery is the medal race? From someone who knows nothing about it, seems a bit strange to do a series of races to determine the final 3 then leave it to 1 race to determine the winner.

 

[katana]

dream scenario is they call off the skill medal races again and send them out tomorrow at the upper limit of their sailable winds.

 

[Jezzza]

For the windsurfers out there, how much of a lottery is the medal race? From someone who knows nothing about it, seems a bit strange to do a series of races to determine the final 3 then leave it to 1 race to determine the winner.

SailGP does there finals in a similar way & if 2 competitors get into match race maneuvers in the pre start quite often the 3rd can win the start & take a huge advantage into the race proper.

 

[getthefooty]

Looks like Wearn has been dominant so far but I assume it’s another one where they just chuck the top few in one medal race to decide it?

Edit - just read the rules. Medal race worth double points. I remember that now from previous Olympics. Wearn in prime position then.

 

[Alfonz]

Looks like Wearn has been dominant so far but I assume it’s another one where they just chuck the top few in one medal race to decide it?

No, the top 10 go into the medal race, points are doubled and you can't discard your medal race score. The final results are from the opening series score plus medal race score. If Wearn has a 21 point lead, he will win gold even if he finishes last in the medal race. If you DNF or DQ you get 22 points added instead of 20 for 10th.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]