A light sea breeze filled the bay, allowing a short window for racing on the waters of Marseille. Two fleets finished their qualification series, the Kite’s managed just one race, whilst Matt Wearn has to wait one more day to fight for gold as the winds died out before his scheduled final race.
Matt’s Medal Race is rescheduled to start from 8pm AEST, with another reserve day on the following day in case the light winds persist.
Despite his eagerness to compete, the dual Olympian was forced to sit on the beach in the sweltering heat for almost five hours hoping to race.
“Waiting around on the beach isn't fantastic, but it's just what you've got to do,” Matt said.
“I think in sport you've got to be pretty good at switching on and off.”
In the Mixed Dinghy, Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas concluded their opening series in fickle winds and scraped into tomorrow’s medal race in ninth position.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Nia Jerwood has improved on her performance after finishing 16th at the previous Olympics in the Two-person Dinghy.
She has secured a top 10 finish and has the opportunity to move up to fifth overall in the new Mixed Dinghy event.
The young pair of Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown, racing in the Mixed Multihull, were pushing to make it a personal best finish and edge into the elusive top 10 Medal Race. However, they have concluded their first Olympic competition in 13th place and promise to come back harder for LA 2028.
Breiana Whitehead completed just one race in the new Kitesurfing event, which sees participants reach speeds over three times the speed of the wind in which they are sailing.
However, they just couldn’t quite keep the kites in the sky and Breiana was sent to shore to wait it out. Breiana sits in 7th position overall going into her penultimate qualifying day.
Day 12 of the Olympics will feature Matt Wearn fighting for Gold in the Men’s Dinghy Medal Race, as well as Nia and Conor looking to move up the overall leaderboard in the Mixed Dinghy.
Australia’s Breiana Whitehead will be pushing hard on her final qualifying day in the Kitesurfing event to position herself strongly ahead of her Medal Series scheduled for 8 August. Racing is planned from 8 pm AEST.
Lisa Darmanin
