The 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships are concluding with the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 Medal Races today in The Hague, Netherlands. You can watch them live online Here 14:00 CEST and 15:00 CEST, (10.00pm and 11.00pm AEST) with expert commentary from Olympic champion Lijia Xu.
The ILCA 7 gold fleet started day 7 (races 9 and 10) with two false starts, including one with a black flag, before getting race 9 underway in light wind and current. The wind picked up for race 10, and the ILCA 7 fleet got off cleanly in an 11-14 knot breeze.
At the head of the ILCA 7s in race 9, Matt Wearn came in 25th while Britain’s Michael Beckett was second. In Race 10 Matt Wearn took over the series lead from Michael Beckett who had been on top all week. In race 10, Matt Wearn was close behind Michael Beckett mid-fleet until the last square run where he managed to catch him and execute an aggressive luff forcing Becket head to wind and into a tack. Michael Becket then finished 66th a place which he had to carry as he already had his drop a BFD in race 5. Matt could drop his 65th place leaving him with a 20-point lead, which guarantees him gold as long as he sails in the Medal Race and doesn’t get disqualified. Michael Beckett is actually in third place, one point behind New Zealand’s George Gautrey. Gautrey has been climbing up the ranks all week despite a (dropped) BFD in race 9.
The Australian ILCA 7 team had great results overall Ethan McAullay was 17th, Luke Swifto Elliott 20th, Zac Littlewood 34th and Finn Alexander 35th in the 138 boat event.
On day 7 the ILCA 6 fleet had a lot of trouble with several false starts and black flags as the wind increased to strong and choppy. The tricky conditions and starts made the scores very unpredictable and changed the rankings.
Switzerland’s Maud Jayet moved into first place on the day, three points ahead of Tokyo Gold Medalist Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom and Hungary’s Maria Érdi who are tied for second. Rindom won the last race of the day, while Érdi had a bad 49th place in the first race. Only four points separate the top three, and Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands is also in the running for gold, nine points behind Jayet. The medal race will be thrilling.
The first Australian Mara Stransky is 10th so will be in the medal race and has qualified Australia for a start in the Paris Marseilles Olympics. Casey Imeneo had a great series with a win and a 3rd place mid series. She finished 16th in the 110 boat event. Elyse Ainsworth was 31st, Zoe Thompson 35th, Sylvie Stannage 50th and Evie Saunders 62nd. Full Results are on the Event Web Site Here
There are descriptions of each day’s racing and photos on the ILCA web site Here.
Casey Imeneo Day 4 – Photo Suellen Hurling Live Sail Die