| Van Rijsselberge and Klepacka take gold in the Olympic test |
| Friday, 12 August 2011 11:32 |
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Dorian Van Rijsselberge and Zofia Klepacka picked up the first gold medals of the Weymouth and Portland International after a gripping day of sailing on the Nothe in winds in between 15-20 knots. Van Rijsselberge had been tussling with Great Britain's Nick Dempsey throughout the week in the Men's RS:X with the pair locked on equal points after eight races. But the deadlock was broken ahead of the Medal Race after Van Rijsselberge had a better fifth day of sailing than Dempsey to enter the Medal Race with a seven point lead. And the Dutchman, who holds the ISAF Sailing World Cup RS:X Men's title, made hard work of it during the Medal Race after he rounded the first mark in tenth and 51 seconds off the leaders. But van Rijsselberge fought his way up the fleet to finish in fifth position. Dempsey rounded the first mark in fifth and finished second overall but it was not enough to overhaul Van Rijsselberge and the Dutchman held on to secure a narrow one point victory. "It's been a great week and a lot of emotions and tensions going round. But more positive than negative," said Van Rijsselberge. "Nick's been the favourite as it's his home waters and he shows what he can do." With the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships round the corner the Dutchman was modest about his chances, "I'm just going to try and get my country qualified in Perth. That's the biggest thing but it would be nice to definitely get a top ten there." Jon-Paul Tobin won the Medal Race but the bronze medal went to Przemyslaw Miarczynski whose fourth place in the Medal Race moved him from fifth to third. Klepacka claimed the Women's RS:X gold medal in wonderful fashion after winning the Medal Race by over a minute. The Polish sailor has strung together a fantastic race card throughout the week finishing out of the top three just once in 11 races. Marina Alabau boasts five race wins but she did not show the level of consistency that Klepacka showed. But she walks away with the silver medal and bronze went to Great Britain's Bryony Shaw.
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