July 6, 2015
2 minutes reading time
Laser Worlds Qualifying Concludes
The qualifying series at the Laser World Championship in Kingston, Canada has concluded with seven races completed.
The qualifying series at the Laser World Championship in Kingston, Canada has concluded with seven races completed.
The 2015 Laser Worlds are the second opportunity for sailors to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition and based on the current results, eight of the nine spots available at the regatta have been snapped up following the gold, silver and bronze fleet splits.
When the results turn official, the next batch of qualifiers will be confirmed.
Regatta leader Juan Ignacio Maegli representing Guatemala placed third in the first race of the day, with Kristian Ruth representing Norway in 1st and previous regatta leader Matthew Wearn in second. Maegli then fell back in the fleet in the second and third race, and is now sitting third overall. Race 2 was won by Aleksander Arian representing Poland, followed by Andy Maloney representing New Zealand in second and, Benjamin Vadnai representing Hungary in third. The last Yellow Fleet race of the day was dominated by the Italians. Giovanni Cooccoluto, Alessio Spadoni, Enrico Strazzera representing Italy placed 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
The Blue Flights first race was won by Tonci Stipanovic representing Croatia, Sam Meech representing New Zealand placed second and James Espey representing Ireland finished third. Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini representing Great Britain placed first in race 7 for his second bullet of the regatta. He was followed by Colin Cheng representing Singapore in second and Charlie Buckingham representing the United States in third. Blue Flight Race 7 began with Bruno Fontes representing Brazil in the lead. Colin Cheng was able to pull ahead of Fontes , to place first overall. He was followed by Julio Alsogaray representing Argentina in second, Marco Gallo representing Italy in third and Fontes in fourth.
Red Flights race 5 consisted of a tacking duel between Tom Burton representing Australia and Christopher Barnard representing the United States. On the last leg of the race, Burton and Barnard were locked tack for tack, before Burton was able to fake a tack to get clean air and win the race. Race 6 for the Red Flight was won by Nick Thompson representing Great Britain, moving him up to second overall. The final race of the day in the red flight was won with a huge lead by Stefano Peschiera representing Peru. Barnard was able to place third in the last race, moving him up from 28th to 9th overall.