Protest pending, Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch have defended their Two Person Keelboat (SKUD18) Paralympic title with two races to spare at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition.

Before day five started, Fitzgibbon and Tesch had already posted a remarkable six race wins and two second place finishes to put a 15-point gap between them and their nearest rivals from Canada and Great Britain.

Regardless of what John McRoberts and Jackie Gay (CAN) and Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) did in race nine, the Aussies only needed to finish in the top four to ensure an unassailable lead, guaranteeing gold.

Almost predictably they finished with yet another race win to cap an emphatic title defense with the silver and bronze medals to be decided.

Fitzgibbon now boasts a Paralympic haul of two gold medals and one silver in the SKUD18, a run that started at Beijing 2008 when he sailed with Rachael Cox.

Partner Tesch won two silvers and a bronze in Wheelchair Basketball before teaming up with Fitzgibbon and winning back to back sailing gold medals.

By Richard Aspland – World Sailing

RIO 2016 PARALYMPIC SAILING COMPETITION

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition will take place at the Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will feature 80 athletes from 23 nations competing across three events. Racing is scheduled to take place from 12-17 September 2016 and the competition format for all events is fleet racing.

RESULTS / ENTRIES
A full list of sailors racing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games is available to view here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/qualification/sailors.php.
Results will be available on World Sailing’s Paralympic Website when racing starts on Monday 12 September – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/results/index.php

LIVE TRACKING
The racing will be available to watch in 2D and 3D via the live tracking. Live tracking will be available when racing commences via – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-tracking.php#.V9G2ulfwykg

COMPETITION STATUS
The Competition Status Screen feeds in straight from the Race Committee boats with the teams inputting data such as race times, course type, the status of each race and the plan moving forward. The competition status screen will be available when racing commences via – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-tracking.php#.V9G2ulfwykg

LIVE BLOGGING
The World Sailing media team will be following the racing LIVE on World Sailing’s Paralympic Blog throughout Rio 2016. Follow LIVE here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-blog.php#.V9G2j1fwykg

PRESS RELEASES
World Sailing will be releasing international press releases after racing throughout the duration of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. All the latest news and reports will be available to read here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/news/index.php

TELEVISION
To find out who your Paralympic broadcaster is, click here – https://www.paralympic.org/watch-rio-2016

For a simple guide to sailing the IPC have released a short ‘A to Z’ video which you can find here – https://www.facebook.com/paralympics/videos/10154068921356281/

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event on World Sailing’s social networks:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ISAFWorldSailing
Instagram – https://instagram.com/isafworldsailing/
Twitter – @worldsailing
Snapchat – Follow our Story on Snapchat, search for worldsailing

USEFUL LINKS
World Sailing Paralympic Website – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/home.php
Competition Schedule – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/about/schedule.php
Latest Paralympic Sailing news – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/news/index.php
Online Notice Board – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/onb.php

Highlights from the fourth day of competition at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition.

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