GBR sailors secure IFDS World Championships hat-trick
Britain’s Paralympic classes sailors scored their best ever World Championship medal haul at the Delta Lloyd IFDS World Championships, which concluded today (14 July) in Medemblik (NED) with a British crew on the podium in each of the three classes.
Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell picked up their second straight world title with a race to spare in the two-person SKUD class, while John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas earned a hard-fought silver in the Sonar event.
Megan Pascoe capped off the sweep of podium spots for Skandia Team GBR with her first ever World Championship medal – a bronze in the 2.4mR class.
Rickham and Birrell sailed solidly throughout the week, fending off their perennial rivals, USA’s Scott Whitman and Julia Dorsett, to take their second straight world title.
“It’s amazing. Niki and I will be able to fully comprehend it I think a bit later on tonight when we’ve chilled out with a couple of drinks!” said Rickham.
“The last time we got to square up against the Americans, who are our main rivals, was in Miami so that was six months ago so to be able to come back with a win here couldn’t be any better – and to do it at the Worlds obviously takes it to the next level.”
“It feels awesome, although at the moment I’m really tired,” Rickham continued. “It happens every time! All that adrenaline high I’ve been on all week has now gone and my body is just unable to move!
Rickham paid tribute to the support team who helped her and Birrell to their winning form.
“It’s been great working with our new coach Ian [Clingan], plus Peter Bentley has been great on the technical side in getting the boat ready – in fact the whole team has helped. All we can do is thank everybody in Skandia Team GBR as we never would have made it here without all of that help and support.
“We’re just looking forwards from here, and hopefully we can make it a triple when the Worlds are back at home next year!”
The Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas overcame a difficult start to their regatta, which had them down in eighth place at the beginning of the week, to claim their silver.
The two-time World Champions held their nerve, and gradually sailed their way back into contention with a series of solid results for the remainder of the week to end up in medal contention, and at one stage looking like they had pulled off a last-gasp regatta victory on the final day.
But a protest between the Dutch and USA crews for an infringement during race nine ultimately went in favour of the Dutch, handing them the overall victory by one point and leaving the Skandia Team GBR crew with silver.
“The start we had to the week was incredibly average,” Robertson explained. We had a bit of bad luck, but we kept pegging away, had a bit more self-belief.
“We knew we’d trained well and it proved in the end that we were stronger than we thought, so to get a podium spot here is great for the confidence.
“We’ve been pretty good this week at not compounding any mistakes that we did make and being sensible, not panicking and getting back into the game. We have been guilty before of trying to over-think things and over-complicate situations, so we just kept our heads and kept things nice and simple it worked out well for us.”
For Megan Pascoe, her bronze medal in the one-person 2.4mR class marks her first ever World Championship podium finish, and along with her victory at the 2009 World Cup series, it’s given her a confidence boost in ahead of the 2012 selection trials.
“I think the biggest thing I’ll take from here is that I’ve shown I can be in that top rank – I’ve definitely moved up a step and I now know that I can be in that top bunch,” she explained.
“It’s all very well people saying you can be up there, but it’s not the same until you actually do it and finish there!”
Pascoe feels the overall team performance at the IFDS Worlds also bodes well for the British sailors’ Paralympic prospects in 2012.
“For British boats to be up there on the podium in the other two classes as well is just brilliant. It’s been a hard couple of years for everybody, but the team seems to have pulled it together here. The SKUDs are now double World Champions, the Sonars are finally back at the top after a few years of dryness and the 2.4mR battle is going to be as hot as ever so I think we’ve definitely got a chance of a medal or two come the Paralympics.”
Helena Lucas also featured for Skandia Team GBR in the 2.4mR event, but had a disappointing regatta by her standards, picking up two false-start penalties to finish 14th overall.
For full results and the latest news on Skandia Team GBR’s sailors in action around the world visit www.skandiateamgbr.com
Gold – SKUD class
Alexandra Rickham (Epsom) & Niki Birrell (Knutsford)
Silver – Sonar class
John Robertson (Sunderland), Hannah Stodel (Colchester) and Steve Thomas (Cardiff)
Bronze – 2.4mR class
Megan Pascoe (Ardingley)
