Australia qualify in top spot at WUC Sailing

11 teams qualify for the Golden Circle 

CHERBOURG — The last day of qualification for the World University Sailing Championship was a frenetic one for the 19 crews in competition. With winds at about 15 knots in the beautiful natural harbour of the Normandy region, there was virtually no time-out with 9 run rounds to get through in the day. 

The temporary ranking leaders – Spain, Australia and France – played musical chairs as the run rounds were completed. The Australian crew AUS2 which had finished Day 2 in second spot eventually sailed into the lead, surpassing the Spanish crew. In fact, the French women’s crew also managed to get ahead of the Day 1 leaders Spain, with FRA3 close on the heels of AUS2 leaving the Spaniards in 3rd position.

At the end of this third day of competition, the picture of the selected crews is finally clear. In the Golden Circle, there will be competition between the first 11 teams of the classification, which means hosts France will have 3 out of their 4 crews in this Circle. The other 8 teams will compete in the Silver circle. The standings have now been put back to zero for the competitors and every crew can dream of a podium finish. That is good news for a crew like Austria, who finished 10th but thanks to making the Golden Circle can easily aim for a top three finish. 

Matthias Puxkandl, skipper of the Austrian crew said, “After two slightly difficult days we managed to erase our errors. We are in 10th place now and that qualifies us for the Golden Circle.” 

All detailed results can be found and you can track the competition live right .