#49erfx – Royal Irish skiff duo Andrea Brewster & Saskia Tidey who made a breakthrough in their Olympic campaign by making the gold fleet this week at the ISAF Worlds in Santander have narrowly missed out on a spot for Rio this afternoon. The pair finished 24th place from 55 and crucially 13th nation, just outside the top 10 qualifying places which would have earned Ireland its fourth place in Rio.
The Irish campaign is far from over however. The new partnership sail on to the next opportunity to qualify for the Rio Games at the 2015 World Championships. The remaining places in each event shall be qualified from the 2015 Class World Championship and in a series of Continental Qualification Events sanctioned by ISAF, to finish by 1 June 2016 at the latest.
The 49erFX class finish in Santander is going to be a barn burner, as the two most consistent boats all year will go head to head making it a winner takes all for the Championship title. Ida Nielsen and Marie Olsen (DEN) are on 33 points after sailing well today with a 5, 3, 9. That could not compete with the day that Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) had, with a 3, 2, 1. The race area was right hand favoured, so it was vital to get an early lane to the right and have the boat speed to hold. The Brazilians started excellently and were able to apply the pressure.
Giulia Conti and Fancesca Clapcich (ITA) are fresh back from some time off due to injury but it hasn't held them back. Clapcich injured her ankle in Helsinki for the Europeans and has been out of the boat since July. They seem to have done the right thing and rested enough that they have been able to race well this week where they find themselves locked into the Bronze medal position for the final Medal Race.
One more team worth noting are Vicky Jurczok and Anika Lorenz (GER). This team were 25th after qualifying, the last team to make it into gold fleet and have been on fire since then moving all the way up to sixth place, with a chance to move up to fourth tomorrow if the cards line up.
