British sailors Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton are the first members of the British Olympic Team 2004. The British Yngling team sailing at their world championships in Cadiz finished seventh overall which was enough to secure their position.

Robertson, the gold medal winning Europe class sailor at the 2000 Games in Sydney, has changed boat for the 2004 Olympics and teamed up with Webb and Ayton in her bid for successive medals. This team recently took gold at the Pre-Olympic event in Athens and secured their spot in the team following a week of mixed results to finish seventh overall in the forty-one boat fleet. This result was just good enough to meet the qualification criteria set by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and the BOA.

Commenting on their selection, Robertson said, “This week was all about qualification and getting to Athens. We know we can perform well there having taken gold and bronze medals in the last two Pre-Olympic events. The conditions this week were tough but we’ve done what we set out to do and now we can concentrate on the Olympics next year.”

Elsewhere, the British sailing team has been fighting hard for podium positions. Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, in the two-man Star class, have been holding off their rivals all week but a disappointing result yesterday put the gold medal out of reach for the defending world champions and has left them, going into the final race today, fighting it out with the 2000 Olympic Finn silver medallist Fredrick Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden for the silver medal. Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau of France won the world championship with a race to spare.

In the two-man 49er class Chris Draper and Sydney Olympic silver medallist Simon Hiscocks continue to head up the 49er class. Two second places for the British pairing has seen them pull out an eight-point lead over nearest rivals Andre Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte of Brazil. The other British teams of Alister Richardson and Pete Greenhalgh and Paul Brotherton and crew Mark Asquith are also making good ground, with Richardson and Greenhalgh moving up into ninth place overall and Brotherton and Asquith are currently placed 11th.

The next generation of talent is also coming through to compliment the known performers with the young crew of Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley maintaining their second place overall after four races and young female 470 sailors Christina Bassadone and Katherine Hopson are emerging as a major force lying second overall.

Today also sees the final day of racing in the Mistral and Star fleets while many of the classes will catch up on races missed due to the light winds yesterday.

Results

Laser (day three)

1, Gustavo Lima, POR (1,1,(3),2,1,1) 6 pts

2, Robert Scheidt, BRA ((4),1,4,1,1,2) 9 pts

3, Michael Blackburn, AUS (5,1,5,1,1,(11)) 13 pts

GBR

15, Ed Wright (1,7,5,7,(11),7) 27 pts

22, Paul Goodison (15,11,5,3,2,(21)) 36 pts

27, Mark James Howard (11,6,7,(12),10,8) 42 pts

42, Andrew Commander (17,6,(24),4,18,7) 52 pts

44, Jim Taylor (2,(20),14,14,5,20) 55 pts

50, Tim Hulse (3,18,13,10,15,(31)) 59 pts

57, Mark Powell (19,13,8,(23),22,3) 65 pts

86, Dan Holman (14,7,23,20,(29),28) 92 pts

93, James Green (12,23,(24),18,20,24) 97 pts

Tornado (day three)

1, Darren Bundock/John Forbes, AUS (2,1,2,14) 19 pts

2, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley, GBR (1,7,1,12) 21 pts

3, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (7,11,4,4) 26 pts

other GBR

7, Hugh Styles/Adam May (9,5,12,11) 37 pts

21, Ian Barker/Dan Newman (43,29,5,27) 104 pts

22, Rob Wilson/Martin Sellars (29,36,15,29) 109 pts

57, Andrew Walsh/Edward Barney (59,64,45,52) 220 pts

470 Women (day three)

1, Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa, GRE (1,1,(2),1,1,2) 6 pts

2, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (4,4,3,(OCS),2,4) 17 pts

3, Vlada Ilienko/Natalia Gaponovich, RUS (2,4,(6),3,3,6) 18 pts

GBR

11, Josie Gibson/Sue Parkin (5,8,12,2,9,13) 36 pts

18, Helena Lucas/Jenny Heeley (7,10,(17),5,8,15) 44 pts

470 Men (day three)

1, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, ITA (1,1,2,2) 6 pts

2, Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, POR (8,4,1,3) 16 pts

3, Mathew Belcher/Daniel Belcher, AUS (5,1,5,6) 17 pts

GBR

20, Nick Rogers/Joe Glandfield (10,10,9,7) 36 pts

38, Mark Plummer/Oliver Hawkley (14,11,17,15) 57 pts

45, Graham Vials/Bevis Field (20,20,6,16) 62 pts

50, Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (18,13,16,17) 64 pts

62, John Pink/John Gimson (29,18,21,11) 79 pts

90, Neil Marsden/Graham Nelson (29,29,28,27) 113 pts

49er (day three)

1, Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks, GBR (3,2,2,1,(4),2,2,2) 14 pts

2, Andre Fonseca/Rodrigo Duarte, BRA (1,3,3,(DSQ),5,3,6,1) 22 pts

3, Marcus Baur/Max Groy, GER (3,2,7,2,1,5,(16),3) 23 pts

GBR

9, Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh (1,14, (DNC),7,4,4,2,1) 32 pts

11, Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith ((9),7,7,5,4,8,1,4) 36 pts

16, Stephen Morrison/Ben Rhodes (1,8,(11),6,6,11,6,4) 42 pts

53, Alex Hopson/John Garth (18,(24),18,15,19,21,12,17) 120 pts

55, Andrew Rice/Nicholas Murphy ((DNC),16,DNC,10,14,19,16,16) 122 pts

60, Ben Mcgrane/Jonathan Clegg (20,16,22,19,(DNF),18,18,15) 128 pts

72, Brian Wilson/Philip Kennard ((DNC),DNC,OCS,20,17,24,21,23) 167 pts

Finn (day three)

1, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, DEN (4,3,6,2,8,(23)) 23 pts

2, Ben Ainslie, GBR (3,5,7,8,(19),4) 27 pts

3, Andrew Simpson, GBR (32,14,9,1,1,3) 28 pts

GBR

18, Charlie Cumbley (7,12,24,(47),29,20) 92 pts

21, Dave Mellor ((51),16,21,6,17,35) 95 pts

39, Matt Howard (44,38,(63),40,36,19) 177 pts

46, Edward Greig ((57),36,42,38,39,32) 187 pts

Star – Gold fleet (after day five)

1, Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau, FRA (1,2,(5),2,3,1,4,1,2) 16 pts

2, Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE (3,6,2,3,2,3,1,(DNF),1) 21 pts

3, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell, GBR (13,1,1,2,1,1,2,2,(19)) 23 pts

Mistral Men – Gold fleet (after day five)

1, Przemek Miarczynski, POL (1,1,1,(8),1,1,1,1,1,6) 14 pts

2, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, GRE (4,3,2,(OCS),1,21,5,4,3,3) 46 pts

3, Gal Fridman, ISR (3,4,1,(DSQ),7,10,4,12,5,2) 48 pts

GBR

8, Nick Dempsey ((14),7,4,6,4,3,11,6,19,9) 64 pts

28, Dominic Tidey (16,12,7,19,3,6,(51),44,23,34) 164 pts

55, Leo McCallin (20,24,22,33,(50),27,34,48,42,45) 295 pts

Mistral Women (after day five)

1, Lee Korsitz, ISR (1,4,3,6,1,(32),2,2,14,5) 38 pts

2, Barbara Kendall, NZL (2,1,(12),5,11,9,4,1,10,1) 44 pts

3, Lai Mingshuang, CHN (9,3,9,8,(17),8,7,8,3,3) 58 pts

GBR

11, Natasha Sturges (18,(21),18,15,10,7,10,16,1,20) 115 pts

30, Bryony Shaw (23,44,28,34,(46),42,22,13,8,32) 246 pts

Yngling – overall results

1, Hannah Swett/Joan Touchette/Melissa Purdy, USA ((16),12,2,7,1,10,4,1,1,12,4) 54 pts

2, Ulrike Schuemann/Wibke Buelle/Winnie Lippert, GER (15,(27),1,1,13,2,2,10,4,1,12) 61 pts

3, Dorte O Jensen/Helle Jespersen/Rachel Kiel, DEN (1,5,7,17,(32),6,5,15,7,2,2) 67 pts

GBR

7, Shirley Robertson/Sarah Webb/Sarah Ayton ((37),18,5,10,2,3,1,18,3,21,17) 98 pts

12, Cathy Foster/Jane Norris/Annie Lush (22,23,10,5,10,(28),3,7,20,11,21) 132 pts

39, Dominica Lyndsey/Lucy Burn/Vicky Symmers (40,39,29,34,OCS,41,(DNC),DNC,40,27,27) 361 pts

Europe – Gold fleet, final results

1, Siren Sundby, NOR (1,1,3,5,2,3,14,1,23,1,(DNC)) 54 pts

2, Sari Multala, FIN (1,1,2,1,33,(53),1,15,1,6,1) 62 pts

3, Mary Gaillard, USA (9,4,3,7,5,8,21,(33),5,9,10) 81 pts

GBR

26, Laura Baldwin (29,30,23,25,29,10,20,(43),22,12,13) 213 pts

55, Nicky Muller (9,31,20,18,54,47,34,55,34,44,(54)) 345 pts