Olympic Sailing 2024: Wearn and Bouwmeester lead individual Dinghy events while 470 gets underway

The reigning world champion Wearn had a great start to the day, winning race three, which gave the Australian a three-point advantage at the top of the standings.

Croatia’s Filip Jurisic closely followed in second, carried in large part by his first place finish in race four.

Yesterday’s leader Stefano Peschiera has dropped down to third after enduring a slightly less profitable day in Marseille.

Bouwmeester, of the Netherlands, is the only sailor in the ILCA 6 class to score in the top five in all three races so far. The Rio gold medallist has mastered the Marseille wind early, but is only two points clear of France’s Louise Cervera who sits in second.

Cervera had an uncharacteristically off opening race today, finishing 24th, but she recovered well to take fourth in the subsequent race.

Finland’s Monika Mikkola, who was 18th after the opening day of action, rallied well to pick up second and fifth on the water today, propelling her up to third overall.

The latest class to launch was the 470 and Japan’s Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka made the most of their first outing, coming first and second to lead the fleet overall.

Reigning world champions Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman of Spain kept close to the leaders with fifth and sixth place finishes today.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort combined well on the water to edge into third, just a point off the Spanish crew.

Bouwmeester said: “I was very happy with my first races. And then I got a yellow flag in the last one that was abandoned 20 seconds before the end, so that was a shame. But I’m happy with the results so far.

“I definitely have the same hunger. With a family at home it’s sort of important, but not the most important, so I feel a bit more comfortable this time.”

Cervera said: “I only did two races, because they cancelled the last one. The first one was quite easy with winds stronger than the last races, but then it started to get shifty. It was cool, not easy, but it was OK.

“It’s unbelievable how many people are here supporting us, when you go on the water or when you come back. It gives me a lot of energy and I want to do my best for that.”

How it works:

Medals for the Women’s and Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 6 and ILCA 7) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 40-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.

At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The sailor with the smallest overall points total will win gold.

Medals for the Mixed Dinghy (470) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 19-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.

At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The crew with the smallest overall points total will win gold.