Great Britain snatches 2 golds while Brazil wins the 49er FX

Brazilian sailors Grael and Kunze won in the 49er FX class at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics while Great Britain won the 49er and Finn classes. Italy took the Olympic gold in the Nacra 17. 

Giles Scott has defended his Olympic title in the men’s Finn class when during the medal race he finished fourth, claiming the gold medal. This is Team GB’s sixth consecutive gold in the Finn.

Scott was nine points ahead over Hungary’s Zsombor Berecz when the medal race started. At the start of the race, Scott believed he had false-started and decided to play it safe and looped around. 

This allowed Berecz to finish the finish line first, however that was not enough as the British sailor recovered and finished fourth, ensuring his victory. The hungarian sailor won the silver medal and Cardona Mendez of Spain won the bronze medal. 

The British sailor had won six races out of ten in the qualifying rounds, but had to finish in the top five in order to win the gold. Berecz finished 2 points behind Scott. This is Berecz’s first Olympic medal of his career, as he finished 12th at Rio 2016. 

British gold in 49er class at Enoshima

Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell started the 49er medal race in second, four points behind New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. They were also at the same level as Spain when the medal race started. This had to be postponed due to lack of wind on Monday. 

The British pair began an aggressive race early on and throughout the race they fought against New Zealand and Germany. In the end, victory was for the British, who ranked No1 in the world. The Germans came in second in the medal race and New Zealand third. 

This closed the four-point gap: Britain achieved gold and became the 2020 Olympic champions, New Zealand silver and Germany bronze. Spain had to settle for fourth place. 

Brazil defended their Olympic title in 49er FX

Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) won in the women’s 49erFX as Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke (GER) won silver and Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz (NED) bronze. 

Brazil struggled for a lane out of the start but found a gap in the last 10 seconds and was able to tack out to the right as all the other nine boats carried on towards the left. In the first place, Argentina won the Medal Race by a long distance from Norway. However, Brazil only needed to cross the finish third to defend their Olympic title from Rio 2016. 

The Netherlands team were fighting with Germany and Spain for the silver and bronze medal. Everything seemed to be lost for the Dutch team as they got stuck on the outside of a slow mark rounding at the leeward gate, however they pulled back, getting them ahead of Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo (ESP) for the bronze. 

Italy win mixed foiling Nacra 17 Olympics

Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti claimed the mixed foiling nacra 17 Olympic title after finishing sixth in the medal race. Great Britain, the defending champions, finished in second place followed by Germany. Spain once again finished fourth. 

The Italians crossed the line at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour in sixth position, far behind the medal race winners Santiago Raul Lange and Cecilia Carranza Sarol. However, as the Italian sailors scored 12 points, this was enough for them to take the title. 

Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet finished in fifth place and were able to claim the silver medal. Gimson is the oldest British medallist in sailing at the Olympic Games since 1992. 

Germany crossed the line in the medal race in eighth, scoring 16 points. This gave them 63 points and the bronze medal. 

Image credit to Reuters