Never accuse the folks at World Sailing for not taking advantage of an opportunity.
While almost all of the sports on the 2020 Tokyo program have one test event, by placing the opening event of the 2019-20 World Cup schedule just after this week’s test event closed, sailors will have two full weeks of racing on the Olympic courses for all 10 of the 2020 classes. Pretty smart!
The test event program was successful in that sailors got to experience varying conditions, including very light winds on the final day – never more than 8 knots – which led to the cancellation of all of the medal races except the women’s 470.
But the results were a showcase for sailing, with eight Rio 2016 medalists placing in the top three at the test event, including winners Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (NZL: men’s 470), Blair Tuke and Peter Burling (NZL: men’s 49er), and Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) in the women’s 49erFX.
During the World Cup opener, 22 of the 30 test-event medal winners will be back, including all three medalists from the men’s Laser and 470 events, and the women’s RS:X and 49er FX, as well as the mixed-crew Nacra 17 class.
In fact, four of the five men’s gold medalists – Mengfan Gao/RS:X, Belcher and Ryan/470, Zsombor Berecz/Finn and Jesper Stalheim/Laser are entered, and three of the four women’s winners: Yunxiu Lu (RS:X), Grael and Kunze (49er FX) and Emma Plasschaert in the Laser Radial.
Racing is expected to begin on Tuesday (27th) and continue through Sunday, weather permitting:
● 12 races + medal race Saturday for RS:X ~ 49er/49er FX ~ Nacra 17
● 10 races + medal race Sunday for Laser/Laser Radial ~ Finn ~ 470
Look for results from the World Cup races here. Summaries from the test event:
Ready Steady Tokyo Sailing Test Event
Enoshima Bay (JPN) ~ 17-22 August 2019
(Full results here)
Men
RS:X: 1. Mengfan Gao (CHN), 50.00 net poins; 2. Mattia Camboni (ITA), 61; 3. Piotr Myszka (POL), 82.
470: 1. Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL), 25.00; 2. Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE), 27.00; 3. Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP), 38. Also in the top 10: Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA), 58.00.
49er: 1. Blair Tuke/Peter Burling (NZL), 53.00; 2. Dylan Flectcher-Scott/Stuart Bithell (GBR), 64.00; 3. Pawel Kolodzinski/Lukasz Przybytek (POL), 68.00.
Finn: 1. Zsombor Berecz (HUN), 24.00; 2. Nicholas Heiner (NED), 47.00; 3. Giles Scott (GBR), 48.00.
Laser: 1. Jesper Stalheim (SWE), 60.00; 2. Tom Burton (AUS), 63.00; 3. Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR), 65.00.
Women
RS:X: 1. Yunxiu Lu (CHN), 42.00; 2. Charline Picon (FRA), 46.00; 3. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 53.00.
470: 1. Aloise Retornaz/Camille Lecointre (FRA), 38.00; 2. Eilidh McIntyre/Hannah Mills (GBR), 47.00; 3. Agnieszka Skrzypulec/Jolanta Ogar (POL), 51.00.
49erFX: 1. Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (BRA), 57.00; 2. Helene Naess/Marie Ronningen (NOR), 62.00; 3. Saskia Tidey/Charlotte Dobson (GBR), 62.00. Also in the top 10: 10. Stephanie Roble/Margaret Shea (USA), 125.00.
Laser Radial: 1. Emma Plasschaert (BEL), 79.00; 2. Marit Bouwmeester (NED), 82.00; 3. Maria Erdi (HUN), 88.00. Also in the top 10: 8. Erika Reineke (USA), 112.00.
Mixed
Nacra 17: 1. Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (ITA), 54.00; 2. John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR), 66.00; 3. Ben Saxton/Nicola Boniface (GBR), 68.00.
