Olympics: Kirklands Finish 12th In Race #6
[Updated: After a rocky start in their first race this morning, the Kirklands have had their strongest finish to date, with a solid 12th place in their second race of the day. They have now moved up to 19th place in the standings, surpassing the team from Greece]
Bermudian sailors Jesse and Zander Kirkland are taking part in their third day of sailing this morning [Aug 1] with the fifth race in the Olympic 49er class kicking off in Weyouth at 8am Bermuda time and seeing the Kirklands unable to finish.
They rounded the first mark in 13th place 27 seconds behind the leader, rounded the second mark in 9th place 31 seconds behind, rounded the second mark in 9th place 31 second behind, rounded the third mark in 20th place 1 minute and 50 seconds behind, and rounded the fourth mark in 20th place 2 minutes 56 seconds behind the leader. However at the end of the race, the Olympic website listed them as did not finish.
The race was won by Emmanuel Dyen and Stephane Christidis from France, with Australia in second and New Zealand in third. There are twenty teams competing and the Kirklands are 20th in the standings at this time. The Kirklands have taken part in five races thus far, recording three “did not finishes,” one 19th place and one 18th place.
They are due to race again at 9am Bermuda time today, we will update as able or you can follow along on the Olympic website here and view all our Olympic coverage here.
Update 9.35am: The Kirklands have had their strongest finish to date, with a very solid 12th place in the sixth race. They rounded the first mark in 8th, 18 seconds behind the leaders and they were in 12th at the second mark 42 seconds behind. At the third mark the Kirklands moved up to 10th 58 seconds behind the leaders, and moved up to 9th at the fourth mark 56 second behind.
The Kirklands fell to 12th at the fifth mark before crossing the finish line in 12th place, 1 minute and 34 seconds behind the winners Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen from Australia.
The event standings show the 12th place finish has moved them up to 19th place from 20th having now surpassed the team from Greece. They will continue racing tomorrow at 8am Bermuda time.
There will be another Bermudian in action today at the Olympics, with Great Britain’s womens basketball team set to take on Russia. Jenaya Wade Fray made her Olympic debut as part of the GB side on Monday, scoring 5 points for the team.
Update 8.04pm: The Kirklands said on Twitter that sailing was better today, and they have nine more races remaining and “will continue to fight for the final 4 days.”
Go Kirklands!!
That is great
Despite the generally negative feelings about the Olympic coverage we’re getting through VSB I have been pleasantly surprised to see the iMc commentators spending a lot of time on the Kirklands. I’ve already been lucky enough to watch 2 lengthy interviews/reports focussing on them !
Unfortunately sailing is one of those sports that even the best sailors with the best equipment can be beaten by others without a clue and junk . Thankfully they have 19 races to participate in to help level the playing field .
ALL THE BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ZANDER AND JESSE !