McLay Collects Bronze at Laser Radial World Champs

McLay Collects Bronze at Laser Radial World Champs

Blair McLay has won bronze at the Open Laser Radial World Championship which concluded last night in Fortaleza, Brazil.

McLay improved his performance throughout the regatta with two wins and five top five finishes in the six race finals series. A win in his final race left him just one point shy of the silver medal claimed by Brad Funk of the USA. Eduardo Couto of Brazil won the title with a 15 point margin over Funk.

Just 18 years-old McLay has a two day rest before competition starts in the Youth Laser Radial World Championship on at the same venue. Other kiwi's in the fleet include Andrew Mowlem ending the regatta in 14th and Max Andrews who finished 22nd in a total fleet of 90.

In the Olympic class women's fleet the kiwi girls didn't perform as well as they might have hoped. While the kiwi men improved as the regatta went on the girls struggled with consistency towards the end. Jo Aleh who earlier in the year placed 9th in a strong fleet at the European Champs finished this regatta in 21st place. Sara Winther was just behind her in 22nd overall. 76 women took part.

Young American sailor Paige Railey was expected to take the title and she did it without a score in the final race. She was two points ahead of Sophie de Turckheim of France, while Anna Tunnicliffe also from the USA took bronze.

Blair McLay, Max Andrews and Cushla Hume-Merry will start competition in the Youth Laser Radial World Championships after a two day break.

Open Laser Radial World Championships
New Zealand's Final Results

Blair McLay - 3rd - 45 points
Andrew Mowlem - 14th - 111 points
Max Andrews - 22nd - 161 points

Women's Laser Radial World Championships
New Zealand's Final Results

Jo Aleh - 21st - 137 points
Sara Winther - 22nd - 137 points
Cushla Hume-Marry - 61st - 196 points

See the regatta website for full results and reports.

[ Regatta Website ]

ENDS

© Scoop Media