New Zealand, Australia earn sailing gold

Published November 20, 2014

New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie took gold in the women's 470 sailing class after winning the medal race Friday.

Aleh and Powrie entered the race tied with Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark after the opening series, but the New Zealand crew led throughout the decisive race.

Mills and Clark finished ninth in the medal race, but held on for silver. The Netherlands' Lis Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout won bronze.

The men's 470 medal race was also contested Friday. It was supposed to have been run Thursday before light winds prompted officials to postpone it.

Australians Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page entered the race with a narrow lead over Great Britain's Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell. Heading around the first mark, the British pair were first and the Australians were third.

But Belcher and Page surged ahead into the lead and eventually finished second behind Croatia's Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic. That gave the Australians the gold medal, while Patience and Bithell were fourth and took silver.

Argentina's Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente earned bronze.

Also in Friday, Australia and Spain advanced to the final of the women's Elliott 6m match racing event.

The semifinals were scheduled to be five-race matches, but were shortened to three. Australia beat Finland by a 2-1 margin, while Spain topped Russia by the same score.

The bronze and gold medal matches are both scheduled for Saturday.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/new-zealand-australia-earn-sailing-gold