Kiwi sailors have continued their strong performances at the Olympic Test event in Enoshima, Japan this morning with four crews in medal contention as the regatta heads into its final stages.
The New Zealand squad got off to a perfect start with Sam Meech (Laser), Andy Maloney (Finn), Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (49erFX) and Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox (men's 470) all winning their first races.
Maloney then brought himself into medal contention by also winning his second race, which saw him jump five places in the standings to sit in fourth overall.
"I knew what I was doing wrong in the first couple of days," Maloney said.
"Little mistakes were letting me down and I just righted those wrongs and was sailing much better today. It was definitely a confidence booster to get back on the right track."
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke also had a strong day on the water, finishing inside the top four in their four races to hold a five-point lead over Poland's Pawel Kolodzinski and Lukasz Przybytek in the 49er fleet.
The America's Cup duo have three more fleet races tomorrow before their medal race.
"When you have four two-lap races, there’s a lot of decisions to make and we managed to do that pretty well today," Tuke said.
"It was nice to walk away with four good ones."
Standings after day three of Olympic test
49er (21 boats)
1st: Peter Burling / Blair Tuke (NZL) 3 1 1 (13) 9 4 3 2 2 - 25 points
2nd: Pawel Kolodzinski / Lukasz / Przybytek (POL) 2 4 7 2 3 5 (11) 6 1 - 30 pts
3rd: Benjamin Bildstein / David Hussl (AUT) 4 (19) 6 3 5 7 1 1 17 - 44 pts
49erFX (23 boats)
1st: Saskia Tidey / Charlotte Dobson (GBR) 1 4 1 2 2 3 5 (12) 1 - 19 pts
2nd: Martine Grael / Kahena Kunze (BRA) 5 2 4 5 1 (8) 2 2 8 - 29 pts
3rd: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) (14) 7 2 3 6 1 4 8 3 - 34 pts
Laser (35 boats)
1st: Jesper Stalheim (SWE) 5 (15) 2 2 3 2 - 14 pts
2nd: Sam Meech (NZL) 1 2 (13) 1 12 7 - 23 pts
3rd: Jean Matt Wearn (AUS) 3 4 8 (14) 8 4 - 27 pts
Finn (22 boats)
1st: Zsombor Berecz (HUN) 3 1 3 2 (8) 1 - 10 pts
2nd: Giles Scott (GBR) 1 6 2 (10) 4 6 - 19 pts
3rd: Nicholas Heiner (NED) 2 2 7 7 6 (9) - 24 pts
4th: Andy Maloney (NZL) 7 8 9 1 1 (12) - 26 pts
Nacra 17 (21 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) 1 3 1 3 2 7 7 (9) 2 - 26 pts
2nd: Santiago Lange / Cecilia Saroli (ARG) 5 6 2 11 1 1 1 4 (12) - 31 pts
3rd: John Burnet / Anna Gimson (GBR) 6 5 5 7 7 2 2 1 (8) - 35 pts
19th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 20 15 14 8 (22 UFD) 14 14 14 17 - 116 pts
Men's 470 (22 boats)
1st: Mathew Belcher / Will Ryan (AUS) 2 3 3 (8) 3 1 - 12 pts
2nd: Jordi Xammar / Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP) 1 1 4 (20) 1 10 - 17 pts
3rd: Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergsrom (SWE) (5) 2 5 4 4 3 - 18 pts
17th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) (20) 14 17 1 15 20 - 66 pts
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