Youth Olympics Games Medals Decided in Singapore
On an overcast but warm day at the National Sailing Centre it was an anxious wait in the morning for the wind to build on medal race day. However the wind gods rallied and delivered a light and shifty 6 - 8 knot breeze that was just sufficient to complete the medal races to schedule.
Girls Techno 293
Thailand's golden girl Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam sailed to windsurfing victory to claim the first medal of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Kaewduang-Ngam sailed a conservative race and despite a fourth-place finish in the medal race she sailed a magnificent series that has included five consecutive race wins.
Veronica Fanciulli (ITA) won the final race of the regatta and sealed the silver medal in the process.
Singapore's Audrey Pei Lin Yong came third in the final race, which meant she clinched bronze and edged 2010 World Champion Naomi Cohen (ISR) out of medal contention by three points.
Girls Byte Cll
Austria's Lara Vadlau did what was needed to clinch gold in the Girls' Byte class. The 16-year-old finished fourth in the medal race to give her 27 points, a lead of 14 over silver medallist Daphne Van der Vaart from the Netherlands.
"It was not easy but I did it, I feel unbelievably, great, I want to scream. I came here just for the gold medal and I've trained hard. I've had a feeling I've never had before."
Van der Vaart placed second on the day, which was enough to move her up into silver overall.
"I feel great, I'm so happy, I mean I had three discards so I'm so happy that I climbed up again. Three days ago I was at tenth place I can't believe it."
Constanze Stolz of Germany endured her worst day of the entire series. She got yellow flagged down the run and finished in 21st place in the medal race. She reached the shore still unsure as to whether she had lost the bronze medal. But when she learnt she had beaten Celine Carlsen (DEN) by just one point she was ecstatic.
Boys Byte Cll
Virgin Islander Ian Barrows sailed to gold in the boy's Byte CII class. Barrows had hit the front on the penultimate day of the regatta and made certain of success with a third-place finish in the medal race.
His score of 44 points gave him a 16-point margin of victory over Germany's Florian Haufe, who claimed silver.
Netherlands Antilles' sailor Just Van Aanholt clinched bronze after winning the race on the last day, shading out Finland's Kaarle Tapper by four points.
Boys Techno 293
Long-time competition leader Mayan Rafic (ISR) won the Boys Techno 293 gold medal finishing nine points ahead of Michael Chun Leung Cheng (HKG), who took the silver.
Great Britain's Kieran Martin won the medal race on the final day, to pick up the bronze medal by three points from Chaneui Kim (KOR)
The battle for silver came down to the wire but Cheng just pipped Martin by a single point. When he reached the beach he didn't know what colour medal he had won.
The official medal ceremony took place on the foreshore of the Singapore National Sailing Centre. All competitors were presented with their own photos of themselves in action on the water, a real momento of a superb regatta. The thousands of volunteers that had worked so tirelessly throughout these Youth Olympic Games came to cheer the friends they had made and the atmosphere was an unforgetable experience.
To access photos and results on the Sailing competition at the Youth Olympic Games website visit: www.sailing.org/yog
Photograph: Mark Spearman WA and Madison Kennedy QLD competing in Youth Olympic Games
