Meech moves up

Kiwi Olympian Sam Meech showed his class when collecting a win in the only Laser race sailed yesterday at the World Cup regatta in Hyeres, France. The Rio 2016 bronze medallist climbed from 11th to fourth overall with the result and is well placed, especially with winds forecast to strengthen with the arrival of a Mistral pattern which sees strong, cold north-westerly winds hit the French coast. Meech, like a lot of New Zealand sailors, prefers stronger winds. Meech split from the majority of the fleet up the first beat and made some big gains, holding onto the lead to record his first win of the regatta. He now has his disappointing 26th from the opening race as his discard, meaning he shot up the leaderboard with victory and is only five points behind leader Pavlos Kontides from Cyprus.