Burling, Tuke win gold
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s remarkable winning streak in the 49er continues, as they notched their 18th consecutive victory in the skiff class.
The Kiwis eased to victory in the World Cup sailing regatta on Hyeres, France, on Monday. They had the regatta sewn up before the medal race but stamped their dominance on the fleet by winning it anyway.
Burling and Tuke are unbeaten through 18 regattas since they finished second at the 2012 London Olympics in Weymouth.
Since then, they have been untouchable. In France, the crew which beat them for gold at the Olympics, Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, finished a whopping 49 points back in second place.
The Kiwis appeared unfazed by the new regatta format which meant all fleets were reduced to a maximum 40 boats, and involved fleet racing held over four days leading into the top-10 medal race. Over 13 races sailed in Hyeres, Burling and Tuke finished in the top three in 10 races, including four race wins.
Olympic 470 champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie also had success on the final day, rising from fourth to claim the silver medal in the women’s 470 class.
Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan from Brazil won the regatta, with the Kiwis leapfrogging the French and British crews in the medal race, though it wasn’t until they reached shore that they knew the result.
‘‘We thought we might have got [the French crew], but watching their coach celebrate with them, followed by a ‘‘tough luck girls’’ from Nathan [coach Nathan Handley], we were rather grumpy,’’ Aleh said.
‘‘So after a grumpy sail in, and some commiserations on the ramp, we were approached by the media team who wanted to interview us for second, but we told them, ‘no, no, we got fourth’. They insisted that we were actually second, and as that’s what the iPhone said, it had to be true.
‘‘So there we go ... left our run up the leaderboard a little late, but great to finish off with a silver medal after what was a rather tough week.’’
Elsewhere, Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech finished seventh in the women’s 49erFX, as did Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox in the men’s 470, while Josh Junior was eighth in the Finn and Andy Maloney ninth in the Laser.