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Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn will have surfing and fishing on their minds over the next couple of weeks but the main item on their agenda is winning a medal for New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympics.
Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn were third in today's medal race and seventh overall. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.
That is no small ambition, given the quality of the 49er fleet and the impending return to action of Olympic and four-time world champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Crucially, though, Dunning Beck and Gunn qualified the boat for the 2020 Games and it will now come down to one of four New Zealand crews for the ticket to Japan.
Dunning Beck and Gunn have shown enough since they teamed up about 12 months ago to suggest they have great potential. They finished third in today’s medal race at the world championships in Aarhus to be seventh overall and it’s come on the back of medals at both last year’s Olympic Week in Japan and the World Cup in Hyeres.
“It feels great to have [Olympic qualification] out of the way so early,” Gunn said. “It doesn’t guarantee we are going to go but it’s something we don’t have to worry about in the future. We can carry on racing and try to beat all the other Kiwis.”
Dunning Beck added: “We have had a couple of good results so far. There’s still a heck of a long way to go. It’s like staring at a massive hill to climb in the next two years to try to win the spot and then win a medal at the Olympics but we are having fun and improving really fast, which is the most important thing. We will carry on and keep doing what we are doing.”
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech will take a similar approach.
The pair came to the world championships as title contenders, having won their last regatta, but things didn't fall their way. They were fifth in today's medal race and eighth overall, which meant they ticked off a significant achievement.
“It’s really cool to qualify New Zealand a spot in the 49erFX,” Meech said. “It’s only two years to Tokyo so it’s exciting it’s all underway. The next thing is selection. It’s going to be an exciting couple of years.”
Today’s 49erFX medal race was full of drama and excitement.
Maloney and Meech sailed well and were second when a big squall ahead of a thunderstorm hit the stadium course in the Bay of Aarhus. The Austrian combination, who had been leading the race and were 11 points ahead of their nearest rival, capsized as the wind swung around the compass, allowing the Dutch pair of Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz to snatch gold.
“After the first lap, it started to get a bit crazy and shifted quite far left and then a huge right pressure band came in and it seemed the people further back managed to get it first and the whole thing tipped on itself,” Meech said. “It was pretty crazy.”
It was so wacky, none of the teams flew kites on the final downwind leg given the wind had shifted around the dial.
“For us this week, there were a few surprises and unexpected things happened on the course,” Maloney said. “We couldn’t quite get the shifts we are normally quite confident on. It was a funky week and if you were on form you could nail it, but we were just missing a few things that way.”
The 49erFX medal race ended New Zealand’s involvement at the world championships, with Liv Mackay and Micah Wilkinson missing out on tomorrow’s Nacra 17 medal race by one place.
Josh Junior and Sam Meech achieved the best results, fourth in the Finn and Laser respectively, but New Zealand qualified six classes for the Tokyo Olympics which had been the target. The majority of the New Zealand sailors will next month head to Japan to race, when Olympic ambitions will be brought into focus.
Results and standings after the 10th day of the sailing world championships in Aarhus, Denmark, overnight (NZ time):
Laser (165 boats)
1st: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 8 3 7 2 1 2 12 4 2 (14) 18 - 59 points
2nd: Matthew Wearn (AUS) 7 4 1 4 3 1 3 9 (14) 13 16 - 61 pts
3rd: Philipp Buhl (GER) 4 3 19 3 6 6 2 16 (22) 5 6 - 70 pts
4th: Sam Meech (NZL) 1 1 1 2 13 4 34 7 13 (56 DSQ) 4 - 79 pts
14th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 6 11 21 10 21 2 (32) 2 18 31 - 121 pts
28th: Andrew McKenzie (NZL) 6 4 31 17 5 12 37 (42) 21 - 153 pts
35th: George Gautrey (NZL) 18 14 8 17 21 8 26 32 (34) 15 - 159 pts
106th: Matthew Kempkers (NZL) 40 12 45 45 22 33 28 35 35 (46) - 296 pts
Laser Radial (119 boats)
1st: Emma Plasschaert (BEL) 5 7 1 (15) 9 3 11 7 11 2 10 - 66 pts
2nd: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 3 2 11 (28) 16 4 14 11 1 8 - 75 pts
3rd: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 4 3 2 18 2 2 12 (44) 3 33 6 - 85 pts
40th: Susannah Pyatt (NZL) 31 18 41 10 12 29 42 25 (54) 8 - 216 pts
56th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 28 48 51 3 12 8 43 (57) 35 53 - 281 pts
106th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) (58) 57 54 20 42 50 47 52 15 40 - 377 pts
Finn (90 boats)
1st: Zsombor Berecz (HUN) 13 8 6 (15) 10 5 3 9 7 7 2 - 70 pts
2nd: Max Salminen (SWE) 3 4 16 10 4 1 (21) 8 13 1 14 - 74 pts
3rd: Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) 14 1 3 3 (19) 6 18 12 4 11 4 - 76 pts
4th: Josh Junior (NZL) (25) 3 8 4 8 3 12 7 8 15 8 - 76 pts
10th: Andy Maloney (NZL) 6 13 5 5 11 13 (24) 1 22 6 20 - 102 pts
49er (86 boats)
1st: Sime Fantela / Mihovil Fantela (CRO) 6 8 3 1 (25) 15 11 1 4 2 12 2 10 - 72 pts
2nd: Mathieu Frei / Noe Delpech (FRA) 2 1 (27) 13 22 12 6 13 1 4 5 2 - 91 pts
3rd: Tim Fischer / Fabian Graf (GER) 10 11 1 5 4 3 6 5 20 5 (21) 7 18 - 93 pts
7th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 8 2 1 2 9 9 20 3 17 16 15 (23) 6 - 108 pts
18th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 7 18 14 5 7 1 15 8 1 22 (27) 22 - 121 pts
19th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 4 3 (25) 3 4 19 18 9 6 20 16 19 - 121 pts
49erFX (60 boats)
1st: Annemiek Bekkering / Annette Duetz (NED) 3 (26) 8 4 3 5 1 20 11 8 3 19 4 - 89 pts
2nd: Tanja Frank / Lorena Abicht (AUT) 7 2 (25) 9 6 4 12 6 1 7 1 16 20 - 91 pts
3rd: Sophie Weguelin / Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) 13 7 9 8 (19) 8 15 3 2 1 4 12 12 - 94 pts
8th: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) 5 13 6 6 11 4 (30) 19 4 17 18 7 10 - 120 pts
Men's 470 (64 boats)
1st: Kevin Peponnet / Jeremie Mion (FRA) 11 11 3 1 9 2 3 (24) 3 7 6 - 56 pts
2nd: Tetsuya Isozaki / Akira Takayanagi (JPN) 5 6 2 7 1 (25) 16 10 1 2 10 - 60 pts
3rd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez / Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP) 2 5 4 (18) 8 3 6 11 16 3 4 - 62
12th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) (25) 5 7 3 14 11 23 4 STP 15 12 - 94 pts
Women's 470 (47 boats)
1st: Ai Kondo Yoshida / Miho Yoshioka (JPN) (12) 1 3 6 2 5 6 - 23 pts
2nd: Camille Lecointre / Aloise Retornaz (FRA) 2 6 4 7 8 (36) 1 - 28 pts
3rd: Hannah Mills / Eilidh McIntyre (BGR) 9 14 1 1 5 3 (18) - 33 pts
35th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds Smith (NZL) (40) 39 34 26 34 19 24 - 175 pts
Nacra 17 (68 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Marianna Banti (ITA) 1 1 1 (35 DSQ) 16 13 16 3 5 2 3 7 1 - 69 pts
2nd: Nathan Outteridge / Haylee Ooutteridge (AUS) 5 5 13 5 8 3 7 1 3 5 (18) 9 6 - 70 pts
3rd: Santiago Lange / Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) 3 2 2 2 3 6 4 11 (35 UFD) 12 10 10 7 - 72 pts
11th: Olivia Mackay / Micah Wilkinson (NZL) 4 7 (26) 6 8 21 18 23 14 15 1 2 - 126 pts
12th: Gemma Jones Jason Saunders (NZL) (35 DNF) 35 DNF 11 3 7 15 3 7 14 1 11 6 20 - 133 pts
Men's RS:X (76 boards)
1st: Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED) 2 1 (14) 1 5 8 5 5 7 6 5 6 - 51 pts
2nd: Kiran Badloe (NED) 2 11 1 5 3 14 7.6 RDG (17) 6 9 4 2 - 64.6 pts
3rd: Louis Giard (FRA) 1 7 1 14 6 (20) 7 14 15 8 2 4 - 79 pts
51st: Antonio Cozzolino (NZL) 23 26 31 21 30 (34) 19 15 6 8 14 14 - 210 pts
Women's RS:X (62 boards)
1st: Lilian de Geus (NED) 4 3 5 2 6 3 (9) 1 6 1 1 4 - 36 pts
2nd: Charline Picon (FRA) 14 11 6 1 2 1 5 10 10 3 13 (24) - 76 pts
3rd: Emma Wilson (GBR) 1 (16) 11 2 8 2 16 5 5 16 6 7 - 79 pts
55th: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 9 24 (29) 29 29 29 25 25 24 7 23 - 224 pts
Men's formula kite (61 boards)
1st: Nicolas Parlier (FRA) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (11) 1 2 (23 DCT) 1 3 8 1 6 - 29 pts
2nd: Guy Bridge (GBR) (2) (12) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 DNC 4 3 - 29 pts
3rd: Oliver Bridge (GBR) 1 (5) 2 2 1 2 1 1 (6) 1 1 1 1 7 2 8 - 31 pts
18th: Sam Bullock (NZL) 6 5 5 7 6 6 (23 DNC) 6 (11) 10 3 5 7 8 7 9 - 90 pts
Full results here.
- Audio of Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn and Alex Maloney and Molly Meech is available on request. Please contact Yachting New Zealand communications manager Michael Brown on michaelb@yachtingnz.org.nz or +45 5021 9047.
