Day 3 Analysis: A bit of Slalom History, and Mums on the Run

Today saw the first ever slalom races in the history of Olympic sailing. A bit more wind in Marseille opened the window for some short-course downwind competition in the Windsurfing. 

Unfortunately the weather window didn’t stay open for very long, but in the Men, France’s Nicolas Goyard powered his iQFOiL board to victory in the one and only heat that took place. In the Women, event favourite from Great Britain, Emma Wilson, scored a first and second in two heats to take the early lead.

Meanwhile, three more races in the Men’s and Women’s Skiff takes them pretty much to the halfway stage of the regatta. Three more races in predominantly light winds seems to be suiting the New Zealanders, Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie very nicely in the 49er Men. Of the six races completed, the Kiwis have won three of them, and the only other team to keep all their scores inside the top 10 are the Irish in second place.

Yet to win a race but sailing solidly and chipping away are the Spanish, Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, who have climbed up to third, albeit they’re nine points back on the Irish. 

Germans continue to justify their spot

As for the Germans, well if any national Olympic committee is wondering whether or not it’s worth sending a team that barely looks worthy of the place, then take a look at Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger. Perhaps it’s the fact that they didn’t even know they were coming to the Games until the start of this month that’s giving them the freedom to just go out and go sailing. No pressure. Meggendorfer and Spranger got better throughout the day, with scores of 12,8,3 lifting them to fourth overall.

Things are not going to plan for the event favourites from The Netherlands, Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken, who just couldn’t find their usually reliable groove. Scores of 16,7,12 have seen the Dutch plummet from fourth to 10th overall. 

Difficult but not disastrous for the Dutch

It wasn’t the best day either for the Dutch in the Women’s Skiff, although not the worst. At the first start, Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz were in all kinds of disarray as their 49erFX skiff was washed up against the race committee by some strong current in the bay. 

“We were late for the starts, a bit rushed,” admitted van Aanholt with a grin of embarrassment. “We weren’t expecting there to be breeze out there and it kind of caught us by surprise. Like rookies we ended up on the race committee boat, so that was a bit of embarrassment. We went to do our penalty spin straight away but luckily for us, it was a general recall.”

With the fleet crossing the line too soon and the general recall flag going up for a restart, the Dutch had earned a reprieve, although it was their starting that continued to let them down throughout the afternoon. “The rest of the racing on the course we were doing quite well and we’ll take away the positives of good strategy and good boatspeed and tomorrow we’ll work on our starts,” said Duetz.

While the Dutch were down on themselves, they’re still holding second overall. There are plenty of other usually high-performing teams who would kill to be in that position. 

Stronger wind redemption?

Double Olympic Champions from Brazil, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, were one of five teams to break the start line of Race 4 too early, which meant they were Black Flag Disqualified from that heat. The day didn’t really get much better after that, and subsequent results of 19,13 see the Brazilians languishing down in 15th place. The prospect of a third gold, or a medal of any colour, looks distant.

It’s a little better for the 2023 World Champions from Sweden, Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler. While 12th place is not where they’d expect to be at the halfway stage, they will be buoyed by the prospect of stronger breeze on the horizon. After two days of light airs, if the fleet can stretch their legs and get properly trapezing and show what the skiff can do in a bit of breeze, the Swedes might yet bring their super strength to bear on the second half of the regatta.

As for our FX leaders, what about those French, the two mums on the run, Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon. We knew they were good in light airs, but we didn’t know they were this good. The French were leading around the final windward mark of the last two races before being overtaken by the Canadians in one race and the Finnish team in the next. But no bother, because the French are counting five second places and their discard is a perfectly respectable eighth. As with the men, it’s only the top two women’s teams who are still scoring all results inside the top 10, the French and the Dutch.

Mums on the Run

Whether or not Steyaert and Picon will be able to maintain this form as the breeze gets stronger, we’ll have to see, but they have at least built themselves a 10-point buffer on the Dutch. Italy’s Jana Germani and Giorgia Bertuzzi defied the perception that they need breeze to succeed. They won the first race of the afternoon by a country mile, or at least 300 metres anyway. Then the Italians followed with a 3,6 scoreline that puts them comfortably in third place. Like their teammates in the Men’s Skiff, Germany’s Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille are also in fourth place and loving the Olympic Games so far. This is way above expectations for the team and the razzmatazz of the Games seems to be suiting them nicely.

Asked to explain their phenomenal form, Steyaert says the past three months of training have been spot on. “We have learned a lot thanks to everyone on the team,” she said. “We have good speed, good tactics and we learn a lot about the bay.” Picon, the Rio 2016 Olympic Champion in windsurfing, has a seven year old daughter, Steyaert has two daughters aged five and three. And they have a female coach working with them on the water. Girl power is driving them to incredible heights right now. “When we are outside of the sailing venue we are all with the family here,” said Steyaert. “Being with them gives you an extra boost. It’s good for us but maybe not so good to have this emotion just before going on the water and to be about to cry, but we share this emotion and we enjoy the moment together.”

For two experienced racers about to retire from high-level competition, their last ever regatta is going like a dream.

written by Andy Rice