470 sailors set to qualify for Olympics

470 SAILORS SET TO QUALIFY NZ FOR OLYMPICS

Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas will be the first New Zealand sailors to qualify their class for entry in the Athens 2004 Olympics. The top 10 Countries in the men's fleet and top 6 countries in the women's fleet at the 470 Worlds secure a place for their Country in the 470 event at the Olympics.

With one race remaining at the 470 World Champs, held in Sardinia, Italy - Cooke and Nicholas are currently in 3rd place in a competitive fleet and are still in contention for first place.

Yachting New Zealand's Chief Executive, Simon Wickham comments, "Peter and Simon have done a great job qualifying the class this far out from the Athens 2004 Olympics. It is great to have certainty over our right to send a 470 crew to the Games early" ...."SPARCs support of our World championship efforts have paid off for the 470 men and that's a great addition to the ISAF Youth World title won earlier this year - we are confident these are early signs of the Future Champions Academy coaching support paying off" says Wickham.

The final race is scheduled for tomorrow.

Current results from the other New Zealand competitors: Men's Andrew Brown / Jamie Hunt - 24th Stephen Keen / Philip Keen - 35th Women's Shelley Hesson / Linda Dickson - 20th

For full results the official website is: http://www.470worlds.com

Pictures of Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas attached.

MEN'S MISTRAL SAILOR IN 2ND PLACE AT MISTRAL EUROPEANS 2002

James Wells is currently in 2nd place - leading 69 other competitors in the Male-Open fleet of the Mistral Europeans, which are taking place in Austria.

The 20 year old Auckland Boardsailor is continuing his excellent form after a second placing at the Athens 2002 Test Event.

In the women's open Sheena McKinnon of Mairangi Bay is in 3rd place in the 45 strong competitor fleet.

Other New Zealand Results: Matthew McCormick - 28th (Male-Open) Julie Worth - 39th (Female-Open) Anita Purdie - 11th (Youth-Female)

Twelve races are scheduled in total for the championships with racing concluding on the 14 September.

Official Website http://www.austriansummergames.at/db/index.php?sel=MEM >: http://www.austriansummergames.at/db/index.php?sel=MEM

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