MARSEILLE, France, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands' Marit Bouwmeester is on course to win gold in the women's dinghy (ILCA6), as the opening series of dinghy events at Paris 2024 ended on Monday.
Bouwmeester did have her weakest finish in race nine, placing 20th, but that mattered little as the final race of the opening series was abandoned due to a lack of wind, confirming that Bouwmeester could not be overtaken at the top of the rankings.
Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark, gold medalist at Tokyo 2020, was unable to defend her crown, but still put in a fine showing on the water. She has all but secured the silver medal after finishing fourth in the first and only race of the day.
Bronze is still up for grabs heading into the Medal Race on Tuesday, with Norway's Line Flem Hoest currently third, five points ahead of Switzerland's Maud Jayet, who struggled on the water.
"I'm just going to enjoy this one, I'm going to go back to my family and rest. I must say a big thank you to my family for supporting me," Bouwmeester said.
"I felt like I underperformed a little bit this week. With that in mind I still secured a silver medal. I would have liked to have battled it out with Marit tomorrow, but it's ok. She had a really good week and hats off, she definitely did the job that needed to be done," Rindom said.
The standings in men's dinghy did not change as all racing was abandoned due to light wind. That meant Australia's Matt Wearn is guaranteed either a silver or gold when he lines up in Tuesday's Medal Race.
Pavlos Kontides is the only sailor who can overtake him, but the Cypriot is not guaranteed a medal so will have to delicately manoeuvre the race if he is to reach the podium. Meanwhile, Peru's Stefano Peschiera remains third, ten points adrift of Kontides. ■
