Rio 2016 (Sailing): U.S. Paralympic Sonar, 2.4mR Will Challenge for Medals On Saturday

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Pictured: Rick Doerr, Brad Kendell and Hugh Freund, Sonar Class, on Friday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – With the completion of Friday’s races, one day of competition remains at the Rio 2016 Paralympic regatta. Team USA will enter Saturday’s final races in contention for medals in the three-person Sonar and one-person 2.4mR classes.

In the Sonar, Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Brad Kendell (Tampa, Fla.) and Hugh Freund (South Freeport, Maine) maintained their position in 2nd place overall for the third consecutive day, but after submitting a 10, 8 scoreline on Day 5 face an intense battle for the podium on Saturday. The Australian team of Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden and Jonathan Harris clinched gold on Friday, but silver and bronze are still reachable by a significant portion of the fleet. Canada’s team, helmed by two-time Paralympic medalist Paul Tingley with crew Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes sit in third, just one point behind the Americans. The fourth through eighth place boats are lurking close behind, with only a handful of points separating the pack.

“On the second race we were leading at the first mark, but our decision to gybe immediately after the mark didn’t work out,” said Freund, the bowman. “The rest of the fleet blocked our wind, and we got passed by a few boats. After that, we weren’t able to round the favored leeward gate, and got bounced around upwind.”

Kendell, the tactician and main trimmer, said that despite Friday’s challenges the team was confident heading into Saturday’s deciding race. “We didn’t make it easy for ourselves today, but we’ve proven we can do well,” said Kendell, who survived a plane crash 13 years ago, and joined forces with Doerr and Freund in 2010. “We were thinking too much out there today. We just need to focus on our jobs, and get it done.”

Saturday’s final Sonar race is scheduled to begin at 12:00 noon Rio de Janeiro local time. To learn how to follow the race, reference US Sailing’s Paralympic Games viewing guide.

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Pictured: Dee Smith, 2.4mR class.

Dee Smith (Annapolis, Md.) sailed well on Day 5, with finishes of 1st and 5th. The professional sailor and cancer survivor remained in 4th overall, and will enter Saturday 2 points away from 3rd. Smith will need to overtake Australian Matthew Bugg to take bronze. Both sailors have flashed considerable speed this week, and each of them have won three of the ten races.

Smith initially though he would enter Saturday’s final race a formidable ten points away from bronze, but Bugg’s 17/DSQ in Race 10 breathed new life into the American’s hopes for a medal. While both Bugg and Smith can mathematically move higher than bronze on the podium, the battle for gold and silver will be likely be waged between defending champion Helena Lucas of Great Britain, and Damien Seguin of France. Saturday’s Paralympic showdown in the 2.4mR one-person keelboat, a boat sailed worldwide by able-bodied and adaptive competitors alike, promises to be both tense and exciting.

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Pictured: Ryan Porteous and Maureen McKinnon (at left), SKUD-18 class.

Despite an solid 4th place finish in Race 10, the SKUD-18 team of Ryan Porteous (San Diego, Calif.) and Beijing 2008 gold medalist Maureen McKinnon (Marblehead, Mass.) were eliminated from medal contention on Friday. The American pair are only two positions away from bronze, but the 12 point deficit is not assailable in Saturday’s final race.

“We had a good start in the second race, and were able to work our way into lanes of wind,” said Porteous, the helmsman and a first-time Paralympian. “After that, we played the shifts well, and had good speed.”

The defending gold medalists from Australia, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, locked up a second gold on Friday after taking the win in Race 9. The pair have submitted a dominant performance, winning every race but two, and taking 2nd in the others. Silver and bronze in the SKUD-18 will be up for grabs on Saturday for teams from Canada, Great Britain, and Poland.

Standings: Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition (Day 5)

Full Results: Rio 2016

Sonar (Three-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

  1. AUS – HARRISON Colin, HARRIS Jonathan, BOADEN Russell: 19
  2. USA – DOERR Rick, FREUND Hugh, KENDELL Brad: 43
  3. CAN – TINGLEY Paul, LUTES Scott, CAMPBELL Logan: 44
  4. NOR – WANG-HANSEN Aleksander, SOLBERG Marie, KRISTIANSEN Per Eugen: 48
  5. GRE – CHRISTOFOROU Vasileios, ALEXAS Theodoros, NOTAROGLOU Anargyros: 49
  6. NZL – DODSON Richard, MAY Andrew, SHARP Chris: 49
  7. GER – KLOTZING Lasse, KROKER Jens, MAINKA Siegmund: 50
  8. ISR – COHEN Dror, BEN YAKOV Shimon, EFRATI Arnon: 55
  9. GBR – ROBERTSON John, THOMAS Stephen, STODEL Hannah: 61
  10. FRA – JOURDREN Bruno, FLAGEUL Eric, VIMONT-VICARY Nicolas: 81

SKUD-18 (Two-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

  1. AUS – SITZGIBBON Daniel, TESCH Liest: 10
  2. CAN – MCROBERTS John, GAY Jackie: 31
  3. GBR – RICKHAM Alexandra, BIRRELL Niki: 32
  4. POL – GIBES Monika, CICHOCKI Piotr: 36
  5. USA – PORTEOUS Ryan, MCKINNON Maureen: 44
  6. ITA – GUALANDRIS Marco Carlo, ZANETTI Marta: 51
  7. NED – SCHRAMA Rolf, NAP Sandra: 60
  8. BRA – LANDGRAF Bruno, DE ALMEIDA Marinalva: 65
  9. ESP – ROIG ALZAMORA Sergi, DEL REINO Violeta: 72
  10. SIN – TAN Wei Qiang Jovin, YAP Qian Yin: 80

2.4mR (One-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

  1. GBR – LUCAS Helena: 25
  2. FRA – SEGUIN Damien: 26
  3. AUS – BUGG Matthew: 35
  4. USA – SMITH Dee: 37
  5. GER – KROGER Heiko: 48
  6. NOR – ERIKSTAD Bjornar: 49
  7. ITA – SQUIZZATO Antonio: 62
  8. FIN – SALOMAA Niko: 71
  9. CAN – MILLAR Bruce: 73
  10. AUT – REIGER Sven: 73

U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team:

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Rio 2016 Links:

About The U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team

The Rio 2016 U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team is comprised of six sailors hailing from six different U.S. States. Each athlete qualified for the team based on the results of US Sailing’s Rio 2016 Athlete Selection Series. The Games of the XV Paralympiad will take place from September 7-18, 2016, and the sailing events will be based at Marina da Gloria on Rio de Janeiro’s harbor front. The Paralympic Games will feature approximately 4,300 athletes from 161 countries competing in 22 sports. The sailing events will feature 80 athletes from 23 nations competing in three classes. Racing is scheduled to run from September 12-17. Learn more about the U.S. Paralympic Sailing Program at www.ussailing.org/olympics

About US Sailing

The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership, integrity, and growth for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the US Sailing Team. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org

Contact: Will Ricketson, Press Officer (Sailing)

Email: willricketson@ussailing.org
Phone: +1 978 697 2384 (Brazil + USA)
Phone: +55 21 992 458 664 (Brazil Only)