Tony Lewis
ABU DHABI — The battle for gold in the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final is turning into a classic contest of skill and concentration here, with the sport’s top elite athletes turning on a spectacular display in near perfect conditions.
It was another good day for Great Britain’s Bryony Shaw, defending champion in the Women’s RS:X, who followed up her second place in the first of the three races with victory in the last to hold a two-point overall lead from Italy’s Flavia Tartaglini, the second race winner.
This is proving to be one of the most competitive of the eight Olympic sailing classes being contested in the UAE capital’s World Cup regatta, which is sponsored by ADS Securities and Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.
Brazilian Patricia Freitas is another with her sights still on the World Cup gold after a win in the opening race helped her to third at the end of the day.
Australian Tom Burton, leading the 20-boat Laser fleet overnight, once again showed his liking for conditions in Abu Dhabi, and second place in the day’s opening race won by German Philipp Buhl saw him extend his advantage to 3 pts over Robert Scheidt, the five-times Olympic medalist.
Brazilian Scheidt immediately discarded his 8th place finish while Britain’s Nick Thompson completed the top three after finishing third behind another Aussie, Matthew Wearn, who was fifth overall.
In the Laser Radial Holland’s Marit Bouwmeester won the first of two races from Josefin Olsson and, after discarding her 8th position in race two, ended the day leading the Swede by three points.
Second race winner Tatiana Drozdovskaya of Belarus was down in 7th overall, while Belgium’s defending champion Evi Van Acker continued to have a difficult title defense, her 3rd and 11th positions on the day leaving her in 5th overall.
Austria’s defending champions Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar are having a great battle with Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark in the Women’s 470 class, and there is nothing between them after two days of fleet racing.
