US
Sailing Team at the Opening Ceremony for the
2006 Qingdao International Regatta
Good Luck Beijing 2006 Qingdao International Regatta
US Sailing Team Wins Two Gold Medals, One Bronze in Qingdao, China
The US Sailing Team (USST) won two gold medals and one bronze medal Wednesday at The Good Luck Beijing - 2006 Qingdao International Regatta.
Thanks to a 23-point lead over New Zealand's Jo Aleh, world number one Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) had already secured the gold in the Laser Radial class before Wednesday's Medal Race. "It was so exciting," she said. "Every reason I train and all the things I go through... this is what it's for."
In the Star class, Andy Horton (Newport, R.I.) and Brad Nichol (Lake Sunapee, N.H.) won a gold medal Wednesday, while George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and Eric Monroe (Corona del Mar, Calif.) followed with the bronze. Horton likened the Medal Race with college sailing, where he and Nichol both learned to race "short, intense sprints." The competition was tight throughout the event, especially with silver medalists Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell from Great Britain. "The British team is always a measuring stick in the class, so we were happy to sail and compete with them," said Horton.
Other USST members who achieved top-ten finishes are: Anna Tunnicliffe (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) finished fourth in the Laser Radial class; John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Tex.) secured fourth in the Tornado; Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) and Zack Maxam (Coronado, Calif.) came in fifth in the 49er; Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) finished sixth in the Finn; Stuart McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) finished eighth in the 470 Men; and the Yngling three-person teams of Sally Barkow (Chenequa, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Deb Capozzi (Bayview, N.Y.) and Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Kim Couranz (Annapolis, Md.), and Margaret Podlich (Annapolis, Md.) came in fifth and tenth, respectively.
All 11 Medal Races were
completed Wednesday, August 30.
Medal Race
results were double weighted.
Exactly two years before the 2008 Olympic Games,
thirty-four top-ranked members of the US Sailing
Team (USST) got a taste of Olympic competition
at the 2006 Qingdao
International Regatta from August 18-31. The USST competed against 430 sailors from 40 countries and
regions.
The first of two annual Olympic Test Events, the
regatta was held at the Qingdao International Marina in Qingdao, a coastal city located 430 miles east of Beijing.Ranked a Grade 2 event by ISAF, the regatta featured the Olympic sailing competition’s nine classes: Finn (men); 470 (men and women); Laser (men); Laser Radial (women); Neil Pryde RS:X (men and women); 49er, Star, Tornado (all open); and Yngling (women).
