Luke Patience (GBR), Tom Burton (AUS) and Giles Scott (GBR) are three star sailors who’ve just won a gold medal at the Miami World Cup Series event. We are so very happy for them and honoured they raced at the SSL Finals in different editions.
The World Cup Series in Miami was the second of three events World Sailing organizes every year that qualify the best sailors to then attend the World Cup Series Finals, this year in Marseille at the beginning of June. Before Miami it was Gamagori in Japan, then there will be Hyeres in April.
Miami proved to be a great venue as usual and it was great for athletes and coaches to check the preparations in the middle of winter trainings. Moreover, the conditions were so different throughout the whole week that it was an excellent test both in light and strong winds.
There were two days for the Medal Races, the one on Sunday crowned the SSL athletes.
In the Men's 470, Luke Patience and Chris Grube (GBR) won gold. The pair lead the fleet majority of the week and triumphant by a 27-point margin ahead of the French, Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion, who took silver.
Peponnet and Mion have only sailed together for six months and they walk away with silver medals, "Overall we are really happy because we've only been sailing together for six months and we've done so well. Our height and weight is perfect, that's what us perform better than most in the fleet.” Said Peponnet.
Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström (SWE) claimed bronze in Men's 470.
The Laser Radial was the most wide-open of the five classes, with nine of 10 sailors starting the Medal Race mathematically alive for a medal.
With the gold medal locked up courtesy of a 30-point advantage, Tom Burton decided to use the Medal Race to work on his starts. All evidence to the contrary—including two race wins and eighth top-seven finishes in this event—Burton wasn't quite satisfied with his ability to get off the line.
He'll need a little more work as he pulled the trigger just a hair early and was called OCS by the race committee. Without anything to gain or lose, Burton was content to follow the fleet around the track, finishing ninth and still winning the class by 17 points.
Separated by just a point going into the race, Nick Thompson (GBR) and Philipp Buhl (GER) were effectively tied going into the race. And Sam Meech (NZL), the bronze medalist from the Rio 2016 Olympics, was lurking just three points back.
It all looked good for Buhl when he rounded the first mark in sixth, with Meech in sixth and Thompson in ninth. But Thompson ground back into contention and it was anyone's race as the Lasers surfed down the final run, flicking side to side and aggressively working the short, steep chop of Biscayne Bay.
A year and a half ago, with the majestic hills of Rio de Janeiro as a backdrop, Caleb Paine (USA) proved that he's not afraid of the bright lights, claiming the Finn class bronze medal in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with a stirring win in the Medal Race. Earlier today, on Biscayne Bay, Paine came up big again, earning the Finn silver medal.
Paine started the Medal Race needing to place one boat between himself and Alican Kaynar (TUR) to move from third to second in the overall standings, while also not letting Ioannis Mitakis finish too far ahead. Giles Scott (GBR), the reigning Olympic Medalist, had simply to finish the race to ensure himself of the gold medal.
Scott shares his secret on his this week, "I think consistency in the top positions is key and that applies to most fleets.
"The trick is just to say steady and easy into it at the start and don't do anything outstanding during the first couple of races of an event. You just keep plugging away and try and secure the top three results. This was my strategy in Miami.”
Paine put himself in a difficult spot at the start when his plan to attack Kaynar before the start didn't quite go as planned, forcing both sailors to make an early clearing tack and work the right side of the course while the bulk of the fleet streaked off toward the left.
While the Medal Race is short, there's still plenty of opportunity to come back from a bad start as the smaller fleet—10 versus 26 boats in the case of Finn—makes it easier to find clean lanes. Paine was patient, working himself past Kaynar on the first beat and then making the decisive move on the final run, slipping past Max Salminen (SWE) and Tapio Nirkko (FIN) to put two boats between himself and Kaynar and claim the silver medal.
SSL Press Officer since 2015