'Time To Go For Broke': Kiwis In Finals Push At Olympic Test Event

The black bibs remained near the front of their fleets on day five of the Olympic test event in Marseille, as the focus slowly turns from qualifying to the podium.

And, following another consistent showing, few are better placed to make their medal move than ILCA 7 sailor George Gautrey.

The 25-year-old continued his impressive campaign in arguably the most competitive class at the event, punching in scores of 5 and 3 to move to fifth overall.

"It wasn’t a bad day. I’m still making a few errors here and there, but that's yachting,” Gautrey said.

“Two more [fleet races] to go and then the medal race, so I just need to be within striking distance.”

On his current trajectory, Gautrey should be – he’s already made up four spots since, what he says, was a nervous start to day one.

Australian Olympic champion and fleet leader Matt Wearn is looking ominous, but Gautrey has developed a taste for making up ground in the medal races this season.

He rallied from fifth to claim silver by winning the double-points finale on the last day at the Princess Sofia Regatta in April – one of the biggest results of his career.

“The points are all tightening up, so I just need to get up there, get in the mix, and give myself a chance.

“I’m loving being here with the team and it's good to see other Kiwis up there smashing it as well. The 49er boys [Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie] have set the standard and Erica [Dawson] and Micah [Wilkinson] aren’t far off either.”

McHardie and McKenzie lead the 49er competition after six races, while Nacra 17 pair Wilkinson and Dawson are third at the halfway mark of the mixed multihull event.

Neither of the crews were in action today.

Veerle ten Have claimed her first race win of the regatta and backed it up with a second place to stay third overall as the women’s windfoil competition heads toward the elimination series.

“Today went really well for me. I got a one and a two, so I'm pretty happy. We had two course races in around 12kn after a marathon race in the morning that was pretty full-on,” ten Have said.

“Physically, it was the toughest race I’ve sailed – an hour 20 [minutes] of wavy, gusty conditions with major bullets coming through in anything from zero to 20kn.”

In the men’s event, Josh Armit had scores of 20 and 12 before banking a 7 in the final race of the day. He remains 14th overall and within reach of the top 10 and a spot in the finals series.

Safely through to the semis is kitefoiler Justina Kitchen, who booked her place with four single-digit scores – for 11 top-10s in 16 qualifying races.

"We've had some really awesome conditions here, beautiful sunshine, good breeze and big waves,” she said.

“I feel like I'm really close to the front bunch. There are just a few small mistakes [to eliminate] and I'll be right in the front.”

Finishing in ninth overall means Kitchen has a tough road to the podium - needing three race wins to advance to the four-board final and another three for silverware. 

"It's finals day tomorrow and the conditions are looking really good. It’s time to go for broke because you only get points for wins. That really changes the style of racing and we do it on a short course, almost half of our normal size.”

Lukas Walton-Keim just missed out on the next stage in the men's kitefoil, wrapping up his first top-level regatta since returning from knee surgery with a 15th place.

Jo Aleh and Molly Meech finished third in the second race of the day – their best return this week – but were left to rue mistakes in two other races.

“We had some really good moments and I think our top-mark positions showed that, but unfortunately, we made a few too many errors – a couple of swims that pulled us back in two of the races,” Meech said.

“We’re stoked to have come away with a third place. It feels like when we put it all together, it goes well. We will just refocus and try again on our last day of qualifying.”

Results and standings from day 5 of the Olympic test event in Marseille:
49er (29 boats)
1st: Isaac McHardie/William McKenzie (NZ) 14 4 3 5 20 1 - 27 points
2nd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Sui) 6 2 5 14 4 10 - 27 pts
3rd: Sime Fantela/Mihovil Fantela (Cro) 1 3 15 8 13 5 - 30 pts

49er FX (23 boats)
1st: Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 3 6 3 (21) 1 1 2 6 6 - 28 pts
2nd: Stephanie Roble/Maggie Shea (USA) 1 5 (15) 7 3 2 4 5 9 -36 pts
3rd: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler 13 1 1 1 2 (14) 8 14 2 - 42 pts
17th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 11 (22) 7 11 20 18 18 3 20 - 108 pts

Nacra 17 (18 boats)
1st: Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 2 7 8 1 1 1 - 12 pts
2nd: Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer (Ger) 1 1 2 6 8 9 - 18 pts
3rd: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 3 3 7 2 11 3 - 18 pts

ILCA 7 (42 boats)
1st: Matt Wearn (Aus) 1 7 5 (10) 5 2 3 1 - 24 pts
2nd: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 5 2 4 7 1 (14) 5 - 26 pts
3rd: Finn Lynch (Ire) 3 4 4 8 4 (15) 1 6 - 30 pts
5th: George Gautrey (NZ) (15) 9 12 3 1 4 5 3 - 37 pts

ILCA 6 (38 boats)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (Ned) 2 2 11 (12) 2 7 2 4 - 30 pts
2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (Den) 7 (11) 9 3 7 4 3 3 - 36 pts
3rd: Maud Jayet (Sui) 6 4 4 (14) 5 5 9 11 - 44 pts
23rd: Olivia Christie (NZ) (36) 30 8 18 23 20 25 14 - 138 pts

Men's windfoil (24 boards)
1st: Nicolas Goyard (Fra) (12) 2 1 1 (25DNF) 1 6 1 - 13 pts
2nd: Nicolo Renna (Ita) 1 1 (9) 4 (25DNF) 2 3 6 - 19 pts
3rd: Grae Morris (Aus) 9 3 (24) (10) 3 4 1 2 - 26 pts
14th: Josh Armit (NZ) 8 19 (21) 17 2 (20) 12 7 - 85 pts

Women's windfoil (23 boards)
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) 3 1 1 1 (8) (5) 3 1 - 15 pts
2nd: Sharon Kantor (Isr) 5 5 (11) 5 3 1 (11) 3 - 23 pts
3rd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) 6 3 5 2 (24DNF) (9) 1 2 - 28 pts

Men's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Axel Mazella (Fra) 1 (5) 2.2RDG 1 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 (4) 3 3 1 (21DNC) - 26.2 pts
2nd: Connor Bainbridge (GBR) 2 4 3 (16) 4 3 4 3 1 1 (12) 5 4 4 (7) 2 - 40 pts
3rd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) (14) 1 (16) 3 3 5 2 1 10 (21DNF) 2 1 1 1 11 1 - 42 pts
15th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) (17) 14 13 13 (17) 14 14 11 14 6 (17) 16 12 11 8 10 - 156 pts

Women's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 2 1 (7) 1 1 (4) 1 1 3 1 (7) 1 2 4 2 1 - 21 pts
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) 1 2 (11) 2 4 (9) 3 (6) 1 2 1 3 3 1 1 4 - 28 pts
3rd: Daniela Moroz (USA) (12) 5 3 3 2 1 (9) 2 4 3 (9) 2 5 2 7 2 - 48 pts
9th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 6 9 (15) 10 8 7 10 11 (21DNF) (12) 5 6 8 8 10 12 - 110 pts

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