For Immediate Release
Contact: Howard Thomas, Press Officer onsite: +30 693-669-8251; or Jan Harley, Media Pro, 401.849.0220
 

USA’s Paralympians Take Regatta Lead

ATHENS, Greece (September 19, 2004) – U.S. sailors in the 2.4 Metre and Sonar classes moved into first place in the overall standings at the Paralympic Games following the second day of competition at the Agios Kosmas Sailing Centre.

The Sonar team of John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.), Brad Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Hollywood, Fla.) and J.P. Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) opened the day in first place following a protest from day one that saw the disqualification of the race-winning team from Israel. The U.S. team held on to the overall fleet lead with finishes of 3-6 in today’s two races.

"We had an average day today," said Creignou following the third and fourth races of the nine-race series. "The winds were very light and they change throughout the day. That requires a lot of readjusting and changing gears. It's very, very tough to figure out what the wind will do next."

After four races the U.S. leads the Sonar standings with 13 points.  Australia and The Netherlands, tied on points at 19 each, follow in second and third, respectively.

Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine) won both of today’s 2.4 Metre races to move into first place overall in that 16-boat fleet.

Brown took the lead from defending gold medallist Heiko Kroeger (Germany) late in first race of the day, and then led wire-to-wire in the second race.  With eight points, Brown holds the top position in the 2.4 Metre standings, with yesterday’s leader Damien Seguin (France) now in second place with 11 points.  Kroeger sits third with 12 points.

Sailing continues on Monday with two races only in the Sonar class. Racing for the 2.4 Metre sailors resumes with two races on Tuesday.

For additional information:  www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicGames/2004/

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