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Craig Heydon, Sunday, 18 July 2010 The Australian Sailing Team’s Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have one hand on the trophy at the 470 World Championship in The Netherlands, needing only to sail a clean race in Sunday’s final medal race to take the title. The Australians sailed exceptionally well in the difficult conditions to open up a 20 point lead over Greece’s Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis after finishing the day with a 14th, a race win and a second position.
“We’re very happy with the result and now we can go out and enjoy tomorrow’s medal race,” said Belcher. “There’s still racing to do but it’s nice to have the points gap and we can relax a bit for once.”
“This is Mal’s fifth World Championship title and my first and we’re thrilled with how the week has turned out,” he said. “We still have plenty of room for improvement but it’s nice to win and be rewarded for all the hard work.”
Belcher and Page held their composure as their closest competitors faltered on the penultimate day of racing at the 2010 World Championship.
“The guys who performed well yesterday weren’t at the front of the fleet today,” said Belcher. “Our closest rivals, Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell from Great Britain, were just three points behind at the start of the day and then finished second in the first race to take the overall regatta lead.”
“In race two they were in 10th and then broke their rudder, putting them out of that race and then the final race of the day,” he said. “That meant that we had enough of a points gap to take the title.”
In a week where the conditions have had a major impact on racing Saturday was no different.
“The conditions were very difficult again today, we started the first race in about eight or nine knots and by the finish it was up to 18 or 19 with a big rain squall coming through,” said Belcher.
While the Australian pair is well out in front there will still plenty of action throughout the fleet in the final medal race with just eight points separating second and sixth overall.
The Australian Sailing Development Squad crew of Sam Kivell and Will Ryan continued their climb up the ladder and finished the day in 21st position.
The pair had a 12th, 21st and 15th place finish in the day’s three races.
In the Silver fleet Australians Max Taylor and Ben Gunther are 25th while in the Bronze fleet Alexander and Patrick Conway are third overall, just two points off the lead after finishing with a 14th, third and first on Saturday.
In the women’s fleet West Australians Paris Stowell and Chelsea Hall are in 23rd in the Silver fleet while Carrie Smith and Ella Clark are 28th.
The final medal race will be broadcast live on the event website - www.470worlds2010.com at 10pm (AEST) Sunday evening.
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