Kiwi pair grab 6th world title
It might not have been as dramatic as the last one but it was no less significant as Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won their sixth 49er world title in Geelong yesterday.
The pair started the day second, only one point behind the Austrian crew of Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl, and stamped their class on proceedings by winning the two gold fleet races left on the schedule and then taking an 18-point lead into the double-points, top-10 medal race.
It meant they could afford to take things a little more conservatively than the medal race in Auckland just two months ago, when they were in a dogfight with the German combination of Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel. They still crossed fourth in the breezy conditions to finish 20 points ahead of Spain’s Diego Botin and Iago Lopez Marra.
“It’s been a pretty tricky week and it was pretty top-end conditions in the medal race again but Blair and myself sailed pretty well [yesterday morning], so it was nice to have a little buffer going into that one so we could just enjoy the race,” Burling said.
Tuke added: “We’re stoked. It’s only been a couple of months since Auckland but to do it in Olympic year builds a lot of momentum for us, so we’re rapt.”
Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn rounded out a good week for the New Zealand 49er squad by finishing sixth, backing up the fifth they achieved in Auckland last year, and Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie also finished in the top 20.
Micah Wilkinson and
Erica Dawson had a top result in
the Nacra 17 by finishing seventh and will now hope that is enough to convince the Olympic selectors to hand them a ticket to Tokyo. The pair have been sailing together for little more than nine months and were 19th in Auckland in December.
They did it off the back of consistently solid scoring as more fancied teams stumbled in the variable conditions off Geelong all week.
“We’re super-stoked,” Dawson said. “Going into the regatta, we had no idea where we’d end up and it’s probably better than we could have hoped, so we’re really happy.
“It’s part of our Olympic trials, so it was definitely an important one and we’re just happy we did our best and left it all out there.”
Gemma Jones and Josh Porebski were the next best of the Kiwis in 13th, with Liv Mackay and Jason Saunders 15th.
A couple of other Kiwis will be chasing medals today across town at the Laser world championships, where Sam Meech is eighth and Tom Saunders 10th.
Germany’s Philipp Buhl and France’s Jean-Baptiste Bernaz continued to excel, but with three gold fleet races still due to be sailed, it’s all still to play for.
Burling and Tuke can at least relax momentarily and reflect on another exceptional week that saw them win seven of the 13 races and confirm their position in the pantheon of Olympic sailing.
“We’ve put in a lot of work over the last couple of years towards this Olympic campaign, so it’s definitely nice to see it all come together,” Burling said. “It’s a pretty key event. It’s one that everyone tries to perform at, so we’re really happy with how we’re progressing. It’s just really exciting to wrap up another world champs.”
Their attention will now switch to the Tokyo Olympics, where the pair will look to defend the gold medal they won in Rio.
“It’s an exciting few months coming up, that’s for sure, but we’ll enjoy this,” Tuke said. “It’s been a great week. Obviously the result is great but the fashion we have done it has been pretty pleasing, too.”