By Alexander Smith
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) -France fought back to lead the women’s skiffs on Wednesday, just ahead of the Netherlands in second and Sweden in third as 10 crews qualified for Thursday’s deciding Olympic medal race.
Variable winds meant another testing day on a glistening Mediterranean for the women’s and men’s skiffs off Marseille as the crews completed another three of their pre-medal races, with 2024’s Games now over for half the fleets of 20.
Points are awarded based on finishing position in sailing, with the crew with the lowest cumulative score winning. In the medal race, the points are doubled and the result cannot be used as the one “discard” crews are allowed over the event.
Earlier, racing in the debut women’s windsurfing marathon was abandoned as the wind faded during a gruelling hour for the Olympic sailors competing in a long series to decide who will progress to the next rounds.
After a dramatic start, where a power boat whizzed across the front of the fleet to signal the off, the race developed into a slow slog, with the windsurfers dropping off the foils and having to ‘pump’ their sails to propel themselves.
Eventually, after Israel’s Sharon Kantor had led for most of the legs completed, the organisers opted to abandon, an official boat speeding in front of the fleet and flying the flag signalling that the race was over.
The abandonment will have been a blow to Kantor and a potential let-off for Britain’s Emma Wilson, who was top of the leaderboard overnight with a significant points lead over her Israeli rival but was struggling for pace on Wednesday.
The marathon, which counts as two races in the series, was meant to last between 60 and 90 minutes. It will not be re-run on Wednesday, with race scheduling and the wind forecast making it potentially difficult to now fit into these Games.
The men’s marathon was also due to take place on Wednesday, but was postponed due to the light wind conditions, with the organisers opting for shorter races later in the day instead.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Christian Radnedge; editing by Clare Fallon)
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