Tokyo 2020: Emma Wilson wins windsurfing bronze for Team GB

Team GB’s Emma Wilson won a bronze medal on her Olympic debut in the women’s windsurfing event at Tokyo 2020.

Wilson started the double-point medal race in second place in the overall standings after winning four of the 12 preliminary events, meaning she was guaranteed a medal.

However, she was overtaken by the Rio 2016 champion, France’s Charline Picon, who won the race and nudged into second position overall, taking the silver. The gold went to China’s Lu Yunxio, who followed Wilson over the line, knowing that a single-place deficit would be enough to preserve her first place.

Wilson’s bronze is Team GB’s first women’s windsurfing medal since Bryony Shaw claimed bronze in Beijing 13 years ago.

The athlete, who had joked before the event that she was “fed up of coming fourth”, said: “Obviously I want to win, but any medal is amazing. All week I was saying: ‘Whatever you do, smile, you never know if you will come again.’ I dreamed since I was a little kid to win a medal, watching Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, people like that on Super Saturday.

“Charlene and Lu, the two girls in front of me – amazing capacities. I think we showed it, one-two-three in the medal race. It’s hard to separate us but I think I did a good job. I’m super-happy. I achieved my goal. My goal was to just enjoy every moment.”