Battle Royale in Marseille - Men's Dinghy Medal Race drama at Paris 2024 Olympics

by Mark Jardine 8 Aug 02:01 NZST 7 August 2024

In scenes reminiscent of the battle between Ben Ainslie and Robert Scheidt in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Australia's Matt Wearn and Cypriot Pavlos Kontides slugged it out in the Men's Dinghy Medal Race today. But it wasn't just this battle that caught the eye in the Marseille Medal Race Madness.

With a 14-point gap between the two going into the race, and Kontides just 10 points ahead of Peru's Stefano Peschiera, he was in the tricky position of deciding whether to attack for gold or defend silver.

At the same time the battle for bronze was also on meaning there was action to watch across the entire fleet.

Round 1

Kontides made his intentions clear from the off.

Pre-race the Umpires were kept busy as Wearn and Kontides manoeuvred and tacked, trying to gain the upper hand and block the other's start. The Cypriot protested on a luff, but the Umpires green-flagged it, and at the race start seemed to get away.

This ended up being a dress rehearsal, as the General Recall flag was raised, and they had to go through the whole dance again.

Round 2

Kontides had the protest flag ready on his left wrist, as the two circled each other and matched each other move for move. This time Wearn protested on a luff, but this again was green-flagged, but just seconds before the start Pavlos Kontides was eventually penalised on a luff, meaning he had to do a 360 turn right on the start, leaving Wearn to sail away.

Just as crucial was Stefano Peschiera also being penalised, leaving the door open for Great Britain's Micky Beckett to catch him for bronze.

The fleet split on the upwind leg with Micky, Jonatan Vadnai (HUN), Clemente Seguel Lacamara (CHI) and Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini (ITA) going left, while Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR), Thomas Saunders (NZL) and Stefano Peschiera (PER) went right with Wearn and Kontides. Finn Lynch (IRL) was the only one to choose the middle of the course.

It was the left that paid, with Jonatan Vadnai rounding the windward mark first. Micky Beckett rounded fourth, but Stefano Peschiera was in last. If things stayed like this Beckett would secure bronze.

Meanwhile Wearn was sticking to Kontides like a limpet, rounding the top mark eighth and ninth respectively. The Australian had his focus, and nothing was going to change that.

The wind dropped to 5 knots on the first downwind leg, ratcheting up the pressure. Beckett dropped to fifth, opening the door for Hungary's Jonatan Vadnai to grab bronze, but extraordinarily he overcooked a gybe and capsized while in the lead. He recovered to round the leeward mark just inside Beckett, who was protesting loudly that Vadnai had infringed on the rounding.

Wearn and Kontides continued their tacking duel as the wind got lighter and lighter. The tension was written on the sailors faces as they watched opponents pick up zephyrs. The left was paying, so the leaders were constantly gauging their way across to the port lay line.

Just as they were approaching the final windward mark, with just the downwind leg and dog leg to the finish to go, the Race Committee raised the abandonment flag. Peru's Stefano Peschiera breathed a sigh of relief, while there was frustration for Wearn, who was in complete control of Kontides, and disappointment for Beckett, who was set to round the top mark in second.

Round 3

After a delay waiting for the wind, the third attempt at this Medal Race got away in a 6 knot breeze. This time there was disaster for Micky Beckett, who was immediately penalised for rocking, meaning he had to complete a 360 degree turn.

Wearn this time gave Kontides more breathing room and ended up chasing him upwind. Vadnai was the early leader, rounding the top mark first, with Kontides second. Beckett staged a stunning comeback to round fourth but Peschiera was still just in the bronze medal position overall.

Beckett was given his second penalty for pumping on the downwind leg, dropping him back down in an ultra-compact fleet. But the Umpire's whistle wasn't done yet, giving Peschiera a penalty, moving Beckett into the bronze medal position, and just 1 point was separating the Brit, Peruvian and Hungarian sailors.

On the second upwind leg Wearn continued to keep an eye on Kontides, but it was the battle for bronze which was changing second by second. Hungary's Vadnai was leading the race, with both Beckett and Peschiera languishing further back, but the wind was again dropping.

Wearn had somehow sneaked through and rounded the final windward mark first, Kontides was second, with Vadnai fourth, while Beckett rounded eighth with Peschiera just behind in ninth.

The breeze dropped even more on the final downwind leg, and the sailors carefully made their way as the Umpires watched them like hawks. Peschiera picked up another penalty, but Beckett was only just ahead of him and needed a bigger points gap to get bronze. While trying to push hard the Brit picked up his third penalty from the umpires.

The sublime Australian Matt Wearn crossed the finish line first to win his second Olympic gold medal in a row. Pavlos Kontides sealed silver, while Stefano Peschiera did enough to grasp bronze for Peru.

After the Medal Race Wearn said: "First time out when there was 12 knots I thought 'you beauty this is going to be a great race!'. What happened, happened, but luckily the wind filled back in and we did not have to wait another day. Now we celebrate.

On support from his parents and his love of sailing he added: "My parents have been great, they have never pressured me to keep sailing. There have been times when I did not enjoy the sport as much, and my parents were the first ones to say, 'Well if you don't want to do it, that is all good with us', which is incredible considering what they've invested in me. I think that helped. It helped me to go back out, find the joy again, and find it for myself, and that is really special. I have them to thank for that.

On continuing to campaign in the ILCA 7 towards the 2028 Olympics he remarked: "2028, the three-peat? It is so enticing to go on! The body feels great but I will have to wait for the dust to settle. We can take six to twelve months to think about it and make a decision."

On his competitors, especially Pavlos Kontides, Wearn was full of praise: "I'd would love to see him in LA too! I doubt he is going to stop, he is looking younger all the time. Micky Beckett I rate so highly - he did not come away with a medal this time, but if he does not win a World Championships soon, he will definitely win a medal next time. The fleet is so strong, this fleet the top ten, were just going up and down all the time, any one of them could win a medal."

Pavlos Kontides said: "I'm over the moon, I had tears of joy sailing back to the shore. And then I was with my wife, my family, my friends who were supporting me. A second Olympic medal for my country and it came from myself."

Stefano Peschiera said: "It's hard to describe how this feels. It took a lot of hard work and it came out positively throughout the week and finally closing out the chapter is such a relief, after such a tough race.

"I try to be a perfectionist so I'm never going to celebrate until I know that that's my medal so I think that's what got me here. I wanted to ask my coach and when he confirmed it, I had a roller coaster of emotions."

Micky Beckett talked through the ups and downs of the day: "We were supposed to do this race yesterday, but there was no wind all day. We wait for hours and hours here, and it looked like it wasn't going to happen, but the breeze came in, so we went out and got on with it.

"We did about 90% of a race, and then the breeze died right at the last bit, and in that race I was coming second, and it was all looking pretty good. Obviously to have that taken away was pretty tough, but this is sport, this is sailing in particular, and it does happen.

"We went into the second attempt after waiting for about an hour. I got penalised by the Jury twice for rocking - it's a really nuanced rule - basically how you propel the boat. I think in the last three years I've been penalised once prior to this, so that's something to think about in the future. That kind of span me out the back of the fleet and I was then in a position where I couldn't really get back into it.

"It was incredibly light, incredibly hot. Sailing isn't normally that slow and boring to be honest. It's normally a lot better than that! So I went from 4th, with a really good chance of bronze, to 6th, which is a bit crushing. In time I'll get over it, I'm very fortunate to have family and friends here, the British Sailing Team, and everyone who plays the National Lottery at home which directly gets us here and gives us this opportunity. Sorry I'm not coming home with a medal, but I'm just very grateful. It'll sink in, but right now it's very tough."