Portsmouth, R.I. (May 20, 2004) – The USA’s representative to the
2004 Summer Olympics in the Laser class, Mark Mendelblatt (St.
Petersburg, Fla.), has won the Silver Medal at the 2004 Laser World
Championship. It is a "personal best" for Mendelblatt who
previously finished sixth out of 171 boats at the 2003 Laser World
Championships; and eighth out of 142 boats at the 1999 Laser Worlds in
Australia.
Mendelblatt’s performance over the 10-race series saw him place out
of the top four only twice: posting a 25 in the second race of the
series, and a eighth in the seventh race of the series, both of which he
was able to discard from the overall scoring. With six finishes of
fourth or better, and the win of race four, Mendelblatt was in the
leader’s pack with class phenom Robert Scheidt (BRA) and Michael
Blackburn (AUS) throughout most of the event.
Going into the final day of racing, and with a historic seventh world
title on a silver platter all but engraved with Scheidt’s name,
Blackburn and Scheidt were targeting each other in the race for the
championship. Mendelblatt finished fourth in the penultimate race, while
Scheidt took a DNF and Blackburn finished seventh. In the final heat of
the series, Scheidt finished second to Mendelblatt, who had led the race
from start to finish. Scheidt claimed the championship, with Mendelblatt
finishing one point ahead of Blackburn for the silver medal.
The Harken Laser World Championships were sailed in Turkey from May
12-19, with 145 boats competing in the final Olympic qualifying event
for the class prior to the Athens Games. Eight countries qualified to be
among the 32 nations who will have a competitor in Athens; CHN, CYP, CZE,
IRL, KOR, MAS, SIN and URU. Andrew Lewis (Honolulu, Hawaii) was the only
other American at the championship. He finished 57th overall.
To learn more about Mendelblatt, who finished fifth out of 58 boats last
month at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Spain, by visiting:
