British sailors claimed two podium spots on what was a nail-biting
final day of competition at 2013 International 2.4mR World Championships
at the Poole Yacht Club (Friday 13 September). The British Sailing Team’s Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe took silver and
bronze respectively on Friday’s final day of competition, with the
London 2012 Paralympic champion Lucas narrowly missing out on the World
title to Sweden’s Stellan Berlin who overcame all the odds to clinch
victory in the final race. The 47-year-old from from Djursholm went into the 11th and last race
nine points behind overall leader, Britain’s Helena Lucas, knowing he
needed to beat the Brit by at least eight boats, or finish no lower than
5th if Lucas was more than eight boats behind him.
And that is exactly as the race panned out as Berlin finished second, to
Lucas’ 21st meaning he wrapped up victory with Lucas settling for
silver.
Lucas’ British Sailing Team teammate, Megan Pascoe, wrapped up a
hard-fought bronze, capitalising on 23 Black Flag Disqualifications
(BFDs) in the opening race of the day to post three good results and win
her second successive Worlds bronze.
Lucas understandably described herself as “completely gutted”, but as
raw as missing out on gold felt in the immediate aftermath, the London
2012 gold medallist insists it had been a very productive week in terms
of her campaign for Rio 2016.
With her British Sailing Team coach, Ian Barker, finishing seventh
overall, but his own medal aspirations undone by two start line
disqualifications, Lucas believes they have learned a lot.
“Clutching defeat from the jaws of victory, I think is the expression,”
she said. “The last race just didn’t go right for me. All day it had
been about picking a side and sticking to your guns and I found myself
stuck in the middle and it was just not the place to be. I had a great
start, good speed but it was almost more shifty in the middle and it was
easy to get a bit lost and I think that’s what happened. I needed to
stick to the gameplan I’d had for the first two races and it just didn’t
go well.
“But as disappointed as I am now looking at the big picture we’re both
really enthused by the results here. Ian was his own worst enemy,
without his two start disqualifications and hitting a post in race five
he probably would have won the event. He’s so fast and smart and that’s
why he’s my coach.
“He will have learned so many lessons about what it’s like to be a 2.4mR
racer that in terms of looking forward to Rio, kit, our programme, it’s
all looking pretty good. He’s going to have a lot of thoughts about
what is and isn’t important in 2.4mR racing.”
Pascoe overcame a nine-point overnight deficit to win her bronze. She
was delighted to pick up three good, consistent scores while others
around her faltered today, allowing her to leapfrog them onto the podium
for the second year running.
“I knew with three races something could happen, and I knew anything
could happen because I made 15 points on one guy yesterday, but it was
waiting for something to happen, which luckily enough it did in the
first race of the day.
“I was aware of what all those BFDs had done to the points, I had my
coach Rob (Wilson) out there with me and he could tell me what was going
on, and I knew third was pretty safe then, which was a nice position to
go into the last race knowing.”
With many new faces emerging in the fleet this year, and competition in
and around the top 10 fiercer than ever, Megan says it bodes well for
the future of the class.
She added: “Usually we have a Swedish dominance at this event, but the
Finns have come back in and a couple of them have put it together this
week, and it’s really nice to have had a British stronghold on the
Worlds. I’ve been really involved in the UK fleet for 10 or so years and
the sailors really are growing in strength. For the Poole Yacht Club to
host this has been amazing too. They have done it with style.”
(fro www.rya.org.uk)
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