August 22, 2006
22 Aug |
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China, the host nation for the 2008 Olympic Games, set the running in todays opening races. Racing for eight of the eleven Olympic events got underway on Fushan Bay, with China claiming the finish gun in race 1 of both the womens keelboat event in the Yngling and the womens one person dinghy event in the Laser Radial.
At the time of initial writing of this report on Monday 21 August, all results reported were subject to protest. Changes to the report below protest have effected Nick Thompson (GBR) who was disqualifed (DSQ) from race 1 in the Laser Radial, and Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA) who were disqualified from race 1 in the 470 Men.
With the final registration completed yesterday, the entry total now stands at 456 athletes from 40 nations.
The honour of claiming victory in the opening race in the womens one person dinghy fleet went to Xiaoying SHEN (CHN). For SHEN, China’s representative in the Europe in Athens, but who only entered the Laser Radial ISAF World Sailing Rankings in February of this year, her current ranking of 126 is clearly more an indicator of her lack of competition on the international circuit, rather than her evident talent.
Over in the mens Laser fleet, it appeared as though victory in race 1 went to world ranked number 36 Nick Thompson (GBR), but after a protest he was subsequently disqualified.
In the 49er fleet it was a case of young guns on the run, as some different faces positioned themselves at the front of the fleet, undermining the usual dominance of the Olympic medallists and World Champions.
Emmanuel Dyen and Yann Rocherieux (FRA) had a fantastic opening day, placing 3,1,2 to gain 6 points and give themselves a small but helpful points margin over the second placed boat.
Such is the depth and mix of the womens 470 fleet that no team managed to claim a top three place across both of todays races. As a result the points at the front are very close, with the top three crews on equal scores, with 11 points apiece.
Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux (FRA), not only won race 1, but such was their dominance that they overtook most of the mens 470 fleet who had started ahead of them.
The overall lead after today’s two race goes to Japans Yuka Youshisako and Noriko Okuma, who had results opposite to Petitjean and Douroux, to place 10,1, and claim first overall on countback.
Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) head up the mens 470 fleet, with results of 5 and 1. Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA), who assumed victory in race 1 but were subsequently disqualified, before finishing race 2 as the second to last boat, and closed the opening day placed last overall.
The Chinese team of Xiaqun Song, Xiaoni Li and Chuanshuang Zhang took a surprise victory in the Yngling Class’ first race.
Sally Barkow and her crew of Debra Capozzi and Carolyn Howe swiftly challenged in race 2 to take the gun and the overall lead in todays racing. Whilst Song and her crew placed tenth, to close today in fourth overall.
The mens keelboat event hosts a small seven boat fleet of Stars, who contested two races on Course Area D. The top three placed crews finished on an equal five points apiece, with the overall lead going to Diego Negri and Luigi Vialie (ITA) based on countback.
Double Gold medallist at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in 2005 and 2006, Polands Lukasz Grodzicki showed what it takes to win today, by placing two third places to claim the overall lead in the Men’s
RS:X. Racing in the Women’s RS:X begins Tuesday.
