Nikole Barnes and Lara Dallman-Weiss of the USA finished well down in the Women’s 470 at the World Cup in Japan but put on a very gutsy show a long way from a nation that currently invests virtually nothing beyond personal largesse in pursuit of sailing gold. 2020 will see us say sayonara (sorry) to Men’s and Women’s 470s before the boat reappears for 2024 as a mixed two-person dinghy
Enoshima coaching the Swedish 470 team. Other clear favourites for gold next
summer, aside from Scott and Belcher/ Ryan, are the reigning Olympic champions in the men’s and women’s skiff classes. Pete Burling and Blair Tuke won 49er gold for New Zealand at Ready Steady Tokyo, and Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze did the same in the women’s 49erFX fleet. Despite Burling, Tuke and Grael taking time out of skiff racing to compete in the last Volvo Ocean Race (and a 2017 America’s Cup victory for the Kiwi blokes too) they look as strong as ever to repeat their gold medal-winning performances of Rio 2016. Ominously for their rivals, Burling and
Tuke also recently got back together with their longtime coach, three-time 470 World Champion Hamish Willcox, just returned from a two-year world cruising sojourn. Willcox also works with the pair at Team New Zealand and in the past has taken care of met strategy for both Prada and Oracle, so no one is under any illusions that another big part of the 49er 2016 gold medal programme is back in place. A year ago Marit Bouwmeester was
looking like a dead cert to repeat her Laser Radial gold medal from Rio 2016. Now the determined Dutchwoman still looks world-class, but is one of a number who could win the Olympic title next year. Anne-Marie Rindom, bronze medallist
from Rio, looks the pick of the bunch right now, winning the recent worlds by a dom- inant margin although slipping badly at Ready Steady Tokyo where the Dane fin- ished 11th. Winner was Emma Plasschaert from Belgium, also winner of last year’s world championships, who finished three points ahead of Bouwmeester in silver. At the follow-up regatta, the World Cup,
58 SEAHORSE
Plasschaert won again, this time beating Rindom by three points, with Bouw - meester finishing back in fifth. These three European competitors look most likely to hog the Olympic podium next year, although Manami Doi offers a glimmer of hope for Japanese fans. Calling the podium in the Men’s Laser
fleet is much tougher. Tom Burton’s recent victory at the world championships is probably good enough to place the Aus- tralian as marginal favourite for Tokyo gold. He came out on top to win Rio gold three years ago, so he’s proved his mettle at the highest level. Burton has had to operate at the top of his game just to keep fellow Australian Matt Wearn at bay. Wearn would probably be any other country’s pick for selection, but he hasn’t managed to get the better of Burton on the occasions when it mattered the most. There are so many others who could be mentioned here, but Pavlos Kontides – world title winner in 2017 and 2018 – is perhaps the pick of the bunch. The London 2012 silver medallist
behind Tom Slingsby, Kontides became the first ever Olympic medal winner in any sport for his birthplace of Cyprus. Despite lacking the funding of the large nations Kontides has consistently punched above his weight for the past few years. Although he bombed out at Ready Steady Tokyo, finishing ninth (one place in front of the legendary Robert Scheidt, who is back for yet another Olympic campaign), Kontides made amends by winning the World Cup with the Medal Race to spare. After dominating the Nacra 17 season
in 2018 Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti haven’t been so stand-out in the foiling catamaran this year. However, the Italians did prevail by 12pt at Ready Steady Tokyo
and would be considered as marginal favourites for Olympic gold ahead of two British crews, two Australian crews, the French and the reigning Olympic champ - ions from Argentina, Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli. The trial between the top two Aussie
teams is particularly tasty, with two Rio 2016 silver medallists going head to head for Tokyo 2020 selection. Jason Water- house and Lisa Darmanin narrowly missed out on gold three years ago, and still look like a hot prospect for next year provided they beat the ‘newcomers’ to the Nacra fleet, the 49er double Olympic medallist Nathan Outteridge crewed by his sister Haylee. Outteridge has always had an easy run making it to the Games but this time he’s really got his work cut out trying to qualify. Remember also that, as skipper of Team Japan, Outteridge is battling for SailGP supremacy with Waterhouse who is flight controller for Tom Slingsby aboard Team Australia. You know how I mentioned the
strength of the Chinese in the RS:X wind- surfers at the top of the piece? Well, they might not have it all their own way at next year’s Games, due to that man Dorian van Rijsselberghe. Runaway winner of the last two Olympic titles, the Flying Dutchman remains an enigma. He rarely finds the top of the podium during the intervening years between the Games, and finished just 10th at Ready Steady Tokyo. However, pro- vided he beats his team mate, friend and training partner Kiran Badloe for Olympic selection, it would be foolish to bet against van Rijsselberghe picking up a third suc- cessive Olympic title next year. He’ll shave his head, launch off the line, go like shit off a shovel, and bag another gold for the Netherlands. Don’t bet against it.
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