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Crews to battle it out for medals as the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta reaches its climax on Saturday

The cream of crews from around the world will battle it out for medals when the 2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta reaches its climax at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy tomorrow (Saturday).
 
Today’s penultimate day of racing saw two Australian crews do enough to secure gold medals before they contest their medal races tomorrow.
 
And there was good news for Britain’s Nick Thompson, who by qualifying for the Laser medal race made sure of winning enough points at Weymouth and Portland to win the overall ISAF World Cup series title. He is one of 20 British crews returning to action tomorrow.
 
Meanwhile the first medals of the 2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta were awarded to the winners of the three Paralympic classes tonight.
 
In today’s Laser class races, Australia’s Tom Slingsby made sure of winning the gold medal at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, while compatriots Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen wrapped up the 49er class.  
 
Slingsby has impressed throughout the week and his fifth and third place finishes today gave him a 25-point lead over Pavlos Kontides (CYP) that ensured he cannot be caught.
 
Asked if he had raced conservatively today Slingsby said: “It was just the way it worked out. I was trying to win both races again today.
 
“It’s been a tough year and it’s good to finally be back at the top. I’m stoked,” he added. “I’ll do the race properly tomorrow and try not to get in anyone’s way who is contending for the podium.”
 
Great Britain will have two sailors in the medal race in the shape of Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson, who are fifth and seventh. The British pair completed a one-two by coming first and second in the final race of the day.
 
Thompson’s performance ensured he can’t finish any lower than 10th overall in the fleet – which guarantees he wins the overall ISAF World Cup series.
 
Outteridge and Jensen extended their lead in the 49er class to 33 points with two wins and a fifth place, which means they have made sure of winning the regatta.
 
Three British crews are also in the medal race  - Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith progress in fourth, Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh in fifth, with Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes in eighth.
 
Sari Multala’s grip tightened on the Laser Radial class, despite the Finn finishing 25th in the last race of the day, which is discarded.
 
Marit Bouwmeester  (NED) is second with a fourth and eighth that put her nine points behind Multala with France’s Sarah Steyaert one point further back. Three Brits go in the medal race - Charlotte Dobson in eighth, Alison Young in ninth and Andrea Brewster 10th.
 
The women’s RS:X was the first class in which the 10 for tomorrow’s medal races was decided. Spain’s Blanca Manchon, who has led the fleet from the start, finished second in both races today and will go into the medal race with an eight-point lead.
 
Skandia Team GBR’s Bryony Shaw was third in both of today’s races and remains second overall. Flavia Tartaglini scored a 1 and a 4 and goes into the medal race in third.
 
Tartaglini said: “I’m a little bit upset about my last race, but four points is nothing in the medal race. Everything can change in the medal race. I’ve learned that you can easily make up 14 points. You just need to believe.”
 
Brazil’s Ricardo Santos continues to lead the men’s RS:X class and goes into the medal race with an eight-point lead over Portugal’s Joao Rodrigues. Julien Bontemps of France is a further six points behind. Britain’s Richard Hamilton goes into the race in eighth.
 
There promises to be some thrilling action in the men’s 470 medal race, with the Australian crew of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page and the British pair of Nic Asher and Elliot Willis both neck-and-neck on 20 points a-piece. Britain’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell are in third on 34 points. Nick Rodgers and Rob Green (GBR) also make the medal race in sixth.
 
The Japanese crew of Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata went to the top of the 470 women’s leaderboard for the first time today after winning their first race of the day and they stayed there after finishing fourth in the second.
 
They are now just one point clear of the Dutch pairing of Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, who scored a 3 and 1 today.
 
“I’m very happy, but there’s only point in it,” said Kondo.
 
“We hope we will win it tomorrow,” added Tabata.
 
New Zealanders Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, who prospered in the strong winds earlier this week, dropped down to fourth after following their two 13ths yesterday with a 14th and a sixth today.
 
It was a good day for Britain’s Pippa Wilson and Saskia Clark, who came second and fifth to climb from sixth to third. They are nine points behind the leaders, but there are another two crews within four points behind them.
 
Saskia Clark said: “We’re still a fresh team and we really feel like we’ve been making a breakthrough in our communications, particularly in the last two days. That’s been reflected in our results.
 
“We’ll just go out there with the aim of sailing for the race win and hopefully that will put us in a good place.”
 
Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes (GBR) went through to tomorrow’s medal race in 10th overall.
 
Britain’s Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson lead the Star class going into the medal day – they have a 13-point advantage over the Swedes Frederik Loof and Johan Tillander.
 
Croatia’s Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic goes into the Finn medal race at the top of the leaderboard, nine points ahead of Ed Wright of the Skandia Team GBR team. Britain’s Giles Scott and Andrew Mills go into the race in sixth and ninth respectively.
 
Tomorrow sees Britain’s Lucy Macgregor face Renee Groenveld of the Netherlands in the best of five final of the Match racing. France’s Claire Leroy and Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA battle for bronze in the petit final.
 
Earlier in the day the first medals were awarded to the top-three in the three Paralympic Glasses. The USA crew of Scott Whittman and Julia Dorset won gold in the Skud-18 class, which was also enough to earn them gold in the World Cup series.  Britain’s Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell took silver in both the regatta and the series.
 
Rikk Doerr, Hugh Freund and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, also of the USA, won the Sonar class at the regatta, putting them second in the World Cup series. Britain’s John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas came second in the regatta but took gold ahead of the USA in the overall World Cup series.
 
And the Paralympic classes finished on a high note for Great Britain as the fourth place achieved by Megan Pascoe in the 2.4mR class was enough to give her gold in the overall World Cup series. Thierry Schmitter (NED) won gold in the regatta from Damien Seguin (FRA), and with Andre Rademaker (NED) third.  
 
 
UK Broadcast Coverage
BBC
Watch the action live on Saturday from 0900-1500 BST on the BBC Sport website (UK only), with the major finals from 1200-1400 BST, also on the BBC red button.
 
Sail for Gold Radio
You can also listen to the action on Sail for Gold Radio. It is broadcasting on 87.7 FM in the greater Weymouth area and you can also listen to it anywhere in the world on the internet by clicking on the Sail for Gold Radio logo on the Skandia Sail for Gold website at www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk <http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk>

 
For further information contact:  Bryn Vaile in the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta press office on (07768) 902313 or visit www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

About the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta      
• 2009 will be the fourth edition of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, included in the inaugural 2008-09 ISAF Sailing World Cup series
• Event dates: 14-19 September at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the venue for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing events.
• Run by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta is open to all Olympic and Paralympic Classes
• The title sponsor of the event is Skandia supported by UK Sport
• Olympic and Youth sailing is a beneficiary of the Lottery funded World Class Programmes (WCP) and administered by the Sports Councils. The Programmes focus on performance sport with the aim of achieving sporting excellence on the world stage. Further information can be found on the UK Sport website at: http://www.uksport.gov.uk/ and Sport England’s website at http://www.sportengland.org/

About Skandia
Skandia in the UK launched in 1979 and is now one of the leading international long term savings groups providing pensions, investment and protection products through intermediaries in the UK and overseas, with assets under management of £34.9n (as at 31.12.08). Creators of the MultiManager approach, Skandia has teamed up with the world's top fund managers to create a range of funds tailored for investors' individual needs.
Skandia UK is part of an international group founded in Sweden in 1855. The group is a leading, independent provider of long-term savings solutions.
Skandia UK is a division of the Skandia Group, itself owned by Old Mutual plc. Old Mutual is an international financial services group, listed on the London Stock Exchange where it is a FTSE 100® company, making it one of the largest 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Old Mutual is headquartered in London.
Being a part of Old Mutual makes Skandia a key division of the seventh largest life assurer in Europe, with a strong financial base. The combined group has funds under management of £264.8 billion and has approximately 50,000* employees.  *As at 30 December 2008, Source: Old Mutual.  


UK Sport
UK Sport's mission is to work in partnership to lead sport in the UK to world-class success. Our overall goal is to help British athletes achieve a top four finish in the medal table at the 2012 Olympic Games and to retain second place at the Paralympic Games. To achieve this we focus on World Class Performance, thereby ensuring our athletes can access the support they need to compete and win at the highest level. This primary goal is supported by work in the areas of Worldwide Impact (building Britain's reputation on the global sporting scene) and World-Class Standards (ensuring British athletes succeed fairly and cleanly). Part of our remit is to co-ordinate and participate in the UK's efforts to bid for and stage major events on home soil. Through our Lottery-funded World Class Events Programme we have supported the bidding for and staging of over 100 events of World, European and Commonwealth status since 1997. Through this programme, we are supporting the 2009 Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta with up to £225,000. For more information visit www.uksport.gov.uk  

 
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy                 The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) is a world class sailing venue and effectively promotes the sport of sailing to all levels of competence and ability, through courses, training and events, whilst supporting and working closely with the local community.  The WPNSA will be the venue for the sailing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, Weymouth and Portland has been recognised as having some of the best boating waters on the planet.  The Academy currently runs a number of high profile regattas throughout the year and boasts fantastic conference and event facilities.  The WPNSA is committed to conserving the local environment winning the 2008 Sport Industry Award for Environmental Concern in Sport. www.wpnsa.org.uk