Tokyo 2020: sailing success for Team GB on day 11

Team GB’s day 11 got off to a solid start in the water with three sailing medals – two golds and a silver.

Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell clinched the men’s 49er gold, and Giles Scott retained his men’s Finn title shortly after. John Gimson and Anna Burnet earned Britain’s third sailing medal of the day in the mixed Nacra 17, taking the silver after being guaranteed a medal going into the final race.

In the men’s 49er, Fletcher and Bithell held off Germany at the line, while New Zealand’s world and Olympic champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were unable to protect their four-point lead.

The Britons led for most of the medal race – at one point, Burling and Tuke briefly moved into second, which would have secured them the gold, but the Germans fought back, taking the silver and leaving the Kiwis with bronze.

Scott went into the Finn medal race guaranteed a top-three spot, holding a commanding lead after winning six of the 10 races in the opening series. 

The Hungarian sailor Zsombor Berecz led for much of the race, and was set to claim gold. He did win the race, but Scott’s fourth-place finish was enough to leave Berecz with silver, while Spain’s Juan Cardona Mendez claimed bronze.

After the race, Scott said: “I made it by the skin of my teeth. It was properly to the wire. I tried to stay relaxed but I’ve never been involved in a boat race as close as that.”

GB’s mixed Nacra 17 silver was more straightforward, with Italy staying well placed behind Gimson and Burnet to ensure the British pair, the 2020 world champions, did not do enough to wipe out their advantage. Germany stayed third overall to take the bronze.