The lighter the breeze, the higher the chance of an upset in sailboat racing. So it proved on day one of the competition with the Marseille breeze barely rising to 7 knots.
In the Women’s Skiff, local French team Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon made the early running in the opening race before being pipped to the finish post by Canadian sisters Georgia and Antonia Lewin Lafrance.
French fizz to the front
In other wind conditions you wouldn’t expect to see the French or the Canadians making the running but if the breeze stays light for the majority of the week – which is what the forecast is suggesting – then today’s performances could well be a sign of things to come.
While the Canadians struggled to match that first race victory, the Lewin Lafrances coming 19th and 12th in the next heats, Steyaert and Picon were consistent throughout, racking up a hat trick of second places to lie in second overall.
The young German team, Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille, only qualified for a place at the Games at the Last Chance Regatta in late April, but are now in third overall after day one. Smaller and lighter than most teams in the fleet, the coming days could really bring out the best in the Germans who come with little to prove and everything to gain.
Dutch make sense of the chaos
A number of high profile teams, on the other hand, really struggled. Even the Dutch favourites Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz were not great in the early stages of race one, rounding the first mark of the two lap race in 11th. However the Dutch ground their way back to fifth by the finish. And then the multiple World Champions found their mojo, winning the next two heats to take the overall lead.
Van Aanholt and Duetz are into their winning ways already. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch)
The closest rivals to the dominant Dutch over the past three seasons have been the Swedish team of Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler. Their super strength is when they’re able to stretch their long legs in the windier stuff, as they proved with their runaway victory at the 2023 World Championship in The Hague a year ago.
In today’s light breeze the bent-legged Swedes were fighting for air in the middle of the pack and lie in 13th place out of the 20-boat fleet. That’s not a complete disaster, and after racing the Swedes were their usual smily selves.
Big names on the back foot
Further down the results table, in fact in 19th and 20th place respectively, are the Spanish and New Zealand teams. Considering how much medal-winning talent exists resides in these four athletes, it goes to show just how tough it can be to hold your own in Olympic competition.
Tough opening day for Spain and New Zealand. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch)
As Olympic gold medallists in other sailing disciplines, the two skippers of these boats – Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) and Jo Aleh (NZL) – were blessed with the honour of being flag bearers for their nations at the spectacular Opening Ceremony in Paris less than 48 hours earlier.
Now the Spanish and Kiwis have a mountain to climb if they’re to get in content for the medals this week. They at least have experience in their favour. Echegoyen and her crew Paula Barcelo are past 49erFX World Champions. Molly Meech won Olympic silver in the 49erFX at Rio 2016 and Aleh has a gold and silver from the 470 class. These teams will be calling on all their grit and determination to haul themselves back into contention.
Men’s Skiff: Kiwis find their wings
Three races into the 20-boat Men’s Skiff competition, yet only three teams have managed to keep all their scores inside the top 10. This is going to be a high-scoring, mentally taxing regatta. The Dutch favourites, Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken, stuttered to a shaky start in the opening race, finishing 13th. But the three-time World Champions made amends in the next two heats with a first and a seventh to lie in fourth place overall at the end of the day.
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie were fast out of the blocks, the young New Zealanders winning the first race, following up with a third and an eighth to hold a slender lead at the end of day one.
Irish enjoying a windier moment of the light airs opening day. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch)
Just a point off the lead, thanks to winning the last race of a fluky afternoon in very soft breeze, are the Irish team of Rob Dickson and Sean Waddilove. Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz from Uruguay proved their light airs potential when they won the European Championship further down the French coast a couple of months earlier.
Today the South Americans looked comfortable in uncomfortable conditions and sit in third place overall, just a point in front of the aforementioned Dutch.
Germans worth the gamble
A little like their teammates in the Women’s Skiff, Germany’s Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger came to the Games with low expectations. Just happy to be at the Games at all. After missing out on hitting Germany’s performance criteria, Meggendorfer and Spranger didn’t find out if the German Federation would even send them to the Games until 2nd July.
Judging by today’s performance, with a 6, BFD (21) and 3, putting them in seventh overall, the Federation’s gamble on sending their team looks to have been well rewarded. The Germans sit on equal points with the reigning World Champions from France, Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin.
It could even better if they had avoided that BFD – a Black Flag Disqualification for crossing the start line too soon. Each team is permitted to discard its worst score, which is why the Germans are able to hold seventh place overall. Not too shabby for a team that almost wasn’t here at all.
written by Andy Rice
The Germans appear to be worth the last-minute gamble to be included in the Games. (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images)
Written by Andy Rice at World Sailing
