Oman Sail put up spirited show in Tour de France
MUSCAT: After a season-long campaign and a gruelling Tour de France a la Voile which saw 16 days of intense sailing spread over a month, it all came down to the deciding final day and final race for Oman Sail’s Diam 24 team.
Having secured their place in the concluding Super Final race for the top eight teams in the highly competitive 29-strong fleet, Oman Sail was tied in fourth place overall with double points on offer in the Nice finale last Saturday.
After a see-saw contest in ideal sailing conditions which saw the team well placed in the early stages, they finished fifth in the race itself and in the Tour overall, matching their result in 2016.
“We missed the podium so we are a bit frustrated for sure,” said skipper Thierry Douillard of their overall Tour performance.
“But to be honest we did not lose the podium in the final race, we lost it when we did not make a couple of the finals earlier in the Tour, but that is all part of the game.
“It is more important to emphasise that the guys worked really hard and well together, and we were always in contention. We had a great time together and a good Tour overall.”
And he added: “The thing now is to plan ahead for next year and to make sure we arrive in Nice in a good position to podium.”
Douillard led the Oman Sail squad which featured experienced Omani sailors Ali al Balushi and Abdulrahman al Mashari, British Olympian Stevie Morrison and French race ace Mathieu Richard, the race crew rotating over the nine Acts.
“We knew we had a lot to do in the Super Final and in the early stages we were in a good position,” said Al Balushi. “The racing was very close throughout the whole Tour and came down to the final race. We would of course have liked to finish on the podium but we can be proud of fifth place in such a competitive fleet.”
Al Balushi’s view was endorsed by Oman Sail CEO David Graham. Speaking immediately after the Nice final he said: “Obviously today was a disappointment from a results point of view, but you put that to one side and look at where we have come from compared to last year — the position BUDAPEST: Caeleb Dressel of the United States heralded a new era in world swimming when he equalled the great Michael Phelps’s feat of seven golds at a single world championships as the 17th edition closed on Sunday. The 20-year-old Dressel underlined his credentials as the world’s fastest starter in breathtaking fashion at the Duna Arena when he broke away on the butterfly leg to give the US gold in the men’s 4x100 metres medley relay. Dressel had already won three individual golds and three relay titles in Budapest and Sunday’s addition allowed him to match his compatriot Phelps’s tally from the 2007 championships in Melbourne. He also helped the US to record their best-ever world championship haul, with 38 medals. However the enormity of the Florida student’s achievements had yet to fully sink in. “I’ve never had it happen so I don’t really know what to say,” he told reporters. “I’m going to take a little break in Europe, go to Poland and Scotland and just enjoy myself.” “It was probably the most fun I’ve had in eight days. It was an absolute blast getting to do what I love.” Team-mate Lilly King had kickstarted the evening in blistering style with a world-record time of 29.40 seconds in the women’s 50m breaststroke. King beat Russian Yuilya Efimova to the wall by 0.17 seconds, with another American, Katie Meili taking bronze. The atmosphere rose when Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu glided to gold in the women’s 400m individual medley, adding to her 200m medley title. The 12,000-strong crowd roared Hosszu on to a championship record time of four minutes 29.33. Mireia Belmonte of Spain won silver, with Canadian Sydney Pickrem claiming bronze. Chase Kalisz’s breaststroke leg in the men’s 400m individual medley also saw him land an individual medley double. The American set a championship record of four minutes 5.90 seconds to become the third-fastest performer behind Phelps and Ryan Lochte. David Verraszto of Hungary won silver, with Japan’s Daiya Seto securing bronze. “Michael and Ryan are my idols so just to be behind them is cool for me to think about,” Kalisz said. Swede Sarah Sjostrom won her third individual gold in the women’s 50m freestyle to wrap up a memorable championships which also included two world records. The 23-year-old paced herself perfectly to hold off Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands in 23.69 seconds. Simone Manuel of the US won bronze. Camille Lacourt of France delivered the perfect hors d’oeuvre for his new life as a Paris restaurant owner by blazing his way to a hat-trick of men’s 50m backstroke world golds. Lacourt, 32, bowed out of the sport in style as his 24.35 seconds saw off Japan’s Junya Koga and Matt Grevers of the US into the minor medals. King and Manuel then helped the US to set a world record on the way to women’s 4x100m medley relay gold. That paved the way for the US relay men’s golden finale, with Britain finishing in silver 1.04 seconds behind. In their dominating performance at the championships, the US claimed six of the 11 world records set in Budapest. Katie Ledecky, who did not swim on Sunday, finished as the leading female swimmer with her five gold medals and one silver. Manuel collected five golds and a bronze. may be the same but the competition has got so much higher, and we have taken a big jump forward.
“When you look at the fleet and who we are competing against, there are Olympians and world champions — the people just in front of us have all been to the Olympics — so the competition is really stiff and the way the guys have competed has been admirable.
“I am really pleased and I would go so far to say that this is the campaign of the year for Oman Sail.”
The Tour de France à la Voile started in Dunkirk on July 7, and has seen a highintensity mix of coastal and inshore stadium racing at nine venues around the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France and Spain.
Oman Sail had climbed as high as third on the leader-board in the course of the classic event, having shown pre-Tour promise with a win at the inaugural event of the European season, the Grand Prix Atlantique in Pornichet, and then two other strong performances at the Spi Ouest France and Grand Prix Guyader regattas.
The Tour de France à la Voile was ultimately won by the Fondation FDJ team, which sealed victory on the concluding coastal race the day before the Super Final. Tresors de Tahiti finished runner-up with Beijaflore Sailing filling out the podium. An early Tour leader, Team SFS, dropped out of the top three after being black-flagged for an early start in the Super Final to finish fourth, just ahead of Oman Sail.