Sailing Cypriot surges into Laser gold contention

WEYMOUTH, England: Pavlos Kontides raced into gold-medal contention in the Laser dinghy at the Olympic regatta on Wednesday, raising hopes of securing a first podium finish at a Games by a Cypriot athlete.

Kontides, 22, took a second and fourth in the day’s races and holds a one-point lead over Australia’s four-time world champion Tom Slingsby after six races.

Kontides shares the same coach and trains with Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic who sits third overall, seven points behind the Cypriot.

“We have trained really hard on the water and in the gym and when you have a good opponent, somebody to compare with and to push you (it’s good),” Kontides said.

“We are friends all the time off the water (but) on the water I guess we are competing. This is sport.”

Britain’s 2008 Olympic gold medallist Paul Goodison, taking painkillers for a back injury, edged up to sixth overall but is 29 points behind Kontides.

Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen widened the gap on New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to 13 points after the day’s 49er races.

Outteridge, who capsized on Tuesday within sight of the finishing line, was given a snorkel “by a mate” as he and Jensen went out in winds much lighter than the 15-20 knots forecast in Portland Harbour.

The Aussies finished with a first and second in Wednesday’s two races.

“Again we had nice starts in shifty winds. We were in the top five at the first mark each time,” Outerridge said.

“We’ve a long way to go and one bad day can alter the points.”

There are 15 races in the skiffs before the medals race on Aug. 8.

Windsurfing’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ Dorian van Rijsselberge opened up a nine-point lead over Poland’s Przemyslaw Miarczynski in the men’s RS-X event with three wins and a second already in the first four of the 10-race event.

Breakfasting “on a poached egg and beetroot juice” the tall, confident 2011 world champion finished first and third in the two races on Wednesday.

“It was hard to estimate the wind on the Nothe course because at one point it comes over the wall and you can’t see the shifts,” the Dutchman said.

The spectator friendly Nothe Course lies below the raised old fort of Weymouth and neighbouring Portland. The windsurfers move into the more sheltered Portland Harbour course on Thursday.

After winning the first four women’s Laser Radial races Ireland’s Annalise Murphy had a less happy day but retained her overall lead.

Belgium’s Evi Van Acker, sailing consistently, cut her deficit to two points after a first and a fifth in Wednesday’s races.

After four races Spain’s windsurfing hope Marina Alabau Neira continued her winning streak with two more firsts to give her an eight-point over Israeli world champion Lee-El Korsiz.