It ain't over til it's over is an oft-quoted remark in yacht racing, and unfortunately, it is one that rings true this afternoon for Irish sailors Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, who just missed on a medal in the men's skiff class as their arch-rivals Spain took Gold in the Bay of Marseille.
Dickson and Waddilove finished fourth after posting a ninth-place finish in Friday's medal race, which delivered the cruellest outcomes for the Dubliners, who fell from silver to fourth after a poor medal race start.
In a stand-out week-long performance—the finest of their 49er careers—the Howth and Skerries duo had maintained the most consistent form in some of the trickiest sailing conditions to stay second all week until the very last minutes of the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
Irish medal ambitions came undone right at the start, when, with a handful of other boats, they marginally crossed the start line ahead of the official start and were forced to turn around, and re-start, leaving them with a mountain to climb to catch the leaders over the short medal race course.
Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove race downwind under spinnaker in the 49er medal race that saw them finish in ninth place Photo: Sander van der Borch
Dickson and Waddilove pushed hard to catch up but finished the medal race in ninth overall which left them with an agonising fourth overall in the final standings.
"I'm pretty disappointed, we just had a bad race," said Dickson after racing. "We're pretty proud of how we sailed throughout the whole week. Fourth is still a really good result. It's just a shame that it panned out the way it did."
Irish Tricolours were to the fore in the large crowd and family, friends and other supporters were there to cheer and ultimately comfort the two skiff sailor as they returned to shore with the fleet.
The Irish duo started the medal race, which counted double and was added to their 10-race points tally, in second place but were one of three boats to cross the start line early, forcing them to turn back and cross the line again. That left them well adrift and they were unable to make up any ground on the field, coming in last of the nine finishers (Croatia were disqualified for not restarting) in 21:40.00.
New Zealand took silver, and the USA came from behind to clinch bronze.
"It's tough, but it can’t take away from the fact we sailed an absolutely fantastic week," Waddilove told reporters afterwards.
"It's been our best regatta to date, so we can be proud of that.
"It came down to a 20-minute race, but the whole week we sailed fantastically. We should be really proud of ourselves, there's not many things we could have done differently this week, and it came down to a 20-minute race."
Diego Botin and Florian Trittel fulfilled a life-long dream by mastering the Men’s Skiff to become Olympic champions.
The Spanish pair sailed impressively throughout the regatta, finishing top of the Opening Series by a narrow five-point margin.
However, Botin and Trittel had not won an individual race heading into the decisive Medal Race, but they saved their best for last, dominating the fleet in an exceptional show on the water to cross the line first.
New Zealand’s Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie followed in the footsteps of fellow countrymen and Tokyo silver medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, placing second overall.
The Kiwis wrapped up the silver medal with an important third placed finish in the Medal Race, which saw them overtake Ireland’s Dickson and Waddilove.
Spain's Diego Botin Le Chever and Florian Trittel celebrate 49er Gold at the conclusion of the 49er medal race off Marseille Photo: Lloyd Images
USA’s Ian Barrows and Hans Henken benefitted from the shift in positions, managing to secure bronze after a brilliant fourth in the final sail.
Botin said: “It’s a dream come true. After years of putting the work in with the best team, with our families here, it doesn’t get any better.”
Trittel said: “Staying focused has been one of the key factors for these two days of trying to get the Medal Race in.
“We knew what we wanted, which was to do the best Medal Race we could, to win that gold medal. That made us stay very focused, we had a clear game plan and I think we managed to execute it almost perfectly.”
49er Silver for Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie Photo: Lloyd Images
McHardie said: “What a feeling. No words can describe this. This is something we’ve worked really hard for in the last seven years, so to come away with a silver medal for New Zealand is incredible.
“We’ve put a lot of time and effort into playbooks and routines in Marseille which has paid dividends.”
McKenzie said: “The first beat was perfect sailing. You couldn’t really ask for better conditions than that. It made for an awesome race.”
USA's Ian Barrows and Hans Henken took 2024 bronze Photo: Sander van der Borch
Henken said: “Ian and I have been training for the past five years for this and we knew our chances were to go for bronze or silver. Putting ourselves in medal contention and going into that last race was what we wanted.
“A lot of things had to go our way, but we also had to execute at the highest level and we were able to get both today, and that feels amazing.”
“We had an excellent start, you can’t ask for anything better, going full speed. We had to defend the Swiss all the way to the finish line which wasn’t easy to do.”
