The Hague, The Netherlands is hosting the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships from 11th to 20th August 2023. More than 1200 sailors from 80 nations are racing across ten Olympic sailing disciplines. Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition places will be awarded as well as 10 World Championship medals Credit: Sailing Energy / World Sailing. 18 August 2023. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie saved their best for last by taking out the 49er medal race in commanding fashion overnight - for a first race win at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague.
The young pair led from start to finish in light conditions to claim victory by more than 20 seconds, with the result lifting them from sixth to fourth in the final standings - only 7.2 points behind Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trittel.
While it wasn't enough for New Zealand's first medal of the week, McHardie and McKenzie did ensure that the country will be represented in the class at next year's Olympic Games.
"Qualifying New Zealand for the Olympics was one of our goals along the way and to achieve that is pretty cool," McHardie said.
Their next objective is to earn selection for the sole 49er spot in Paris, with training partners Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn sure to mount a strong challenge.
"Next up is to try and qualify ourselves, so it's heads down and working hard. We've come away from this event with a lot to work on and we are looking forward to the next few months leading into the Europeans."
Fading winds meant all other racing was either postponed or abandoned - including the 49erFX medal race featuring Jo Aleh and Molly Meech.
By advancing to the 10-crew finale in sixth overall, Aleh and Meech did, however, lock in an entry in the women's skiff class at the Games.
Sweden's Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler won the gold medal by a mammoth 36 points from local sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, but Aleh and Meech showed impressive progress with their best performance of the season - in only their second campaign together.
"They [Bobeck and Netzler] sailed amazingly well but it just motivates us to work even harder," Meech said.
"We have a lot to work on in the next 11 months but it's really nice to tick off Olympic qualification for New Zealand. Now it's about us making some gains."
Day 8 was somewhat bittersweet for the Kiwi windfoiling contingent, with Josh Armit denied the opportunity to improve on his eighth place on the leaderboard and Veerle ten Have missing out on a final push for the medal series.
Both sailors also managed to secure Olympic qualification by finishing among the top 11 nations.
Armit will be one of seven sailors battling it out in tomorrow's quarterfinal race, with the top two advancing to the semifinal and, potentially, the three-board final.
"It's mission achieved by getting both country spots in the men's and women's events and, as we know with the format in our class, Josh can still get among the medals," windfoil coach Nathan Handley said.
Meanwhile, George Gautrey and Tom Saunders will complete the last two races in the ILCA 7 (Laser) gold fleet.
Gautrey (third on 56 points) is firmly in podium contention and will be hoping to close the gap on leaders Matt Wearn (35 points) and Michael Beckett (24) ahead of tomorrow night's double-points medal showdown.
- RNZ