Paralympian Twomey Must Sail On to Secure Rio Berth

25th August 2014

#ifds – Kinsale's John Twomey finished in the top half of the Sonar fleet at the Disabled Sailing World Championships and first 2016 Paralympic qualification Nova Scotia in Canada yesterday. Twomey, sailing with Ian Costelloe and Austin O'Carroll, was ninth from 18 starters. The sole Irish crew competing took their best result of second in the opening race of seven. A lack of consistency left means the Twomey crew leave Canada two places short of qualifying Ireland for Rio. The Kinsale Yacht Club trio have another shot at Paralympic qualification in 2015.

British sailors came away with two silver medals and the maximum three qualifying berths for the 2016 Paralympic Games at the conclusion of the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships in Halifax, Canada, today (24 August).

Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell missed out on a sixth consecutive world title by the narrowest of margins in the two-person SKUD class, while Helena Lucas claimed silver in the 2.4mR class, just one point from overall winner Heiko Kroeger of Germany.

Their podium finishes, plus a fourth place by the British Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, ensured that Great Britain earned qualification across the three Paralympic classes for the Rio 2016 Games at the first time of asking.

Defending SKUD World Champions Rickham and Birrell finished their regatta tied on points with the Australian Paralympic Champions Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, but lost on countback after the 11-race series.

Final top three:

Sonar
1. Bruno Jourdren / Nicolas Vimont-Vicary / Eric Flageul, FRA, 21 points
2. Paul Tingley / Scott Lutes / Logan Campbell, CAN, 25
3. Colin Harrison / Jonathan Harris / Russell Boaden, AUS, 26

SKUD 18
1. Daniel Fitzgibbon / Liesl Tesch, AUS, 21
2. Alexandra Rickham / Niki Birrell, GBR, 21
3. Marco Gualandris / Marta Zanetti, ITA, 28

2.4mR
1. Heiko Kroeger, GER, 37
2. Helena Lucas, GBR, 38
3. Damien Seguin, FRA, 39

Kinsale Yacht Club Perpetual Trophy (The Nations Cup)
1. Australia
2. Great Britain
3. Canada
4. United States
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. New Zealand

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