Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action. Photo / Getty Images
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action. Photo / Getty Images
Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have improved to fourth place on the overall leaderboard of the 49er regatta, bouncing back from a rough start at the Tokyo Olympics.
The reigning Olympic champions could manage only a 12th-placed finish in the first of 12 races yesterday, unable to recover from beingshuffled toward the back of the fleet on the opening leg of the race. They had no such troubles in Wednesday's three races.
Burling and Tuke notched up their best result of the regatta so far in the fourth race, with a second-placed finish seeing them continue their rise up the standings after a third in the second race and a seventh in the third.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action. Photo / Getty Images
Sitting just five points off the first-placed British crew with eight races to go, Burling and Tuke are well poised for the back end of the regatta.
Fellow reigning Olympic medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech made up ground in the 49er FX class, jumping inside to top 10 at the halfway point of their campaign.
After a capsize and a disqualification on the opening day of the event saw them fall to the back of the fleet early on, the duo, who claimed silver at the 2016 Games, secured fourth-place finishes in two of the three races on Wednesday.
While finishing the other in 12th, the pair did enough to move into ninth place in the standings. They have plenty of ground to make up on the top three crews, however, 21 points adrift of the third-placed Spanish team through six races.
In the 470, Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox have made a terrific start to their campaign, sitting second on the leaderboard after two races, finishing sixth and second in the first two races.
The pair started well in the opening race, but fell off the pace as the crews from Sweden and Australia shot to the front of the pack. The Kiwis were left jostling for positions in the top 10, but a slow third leg saw them fall to seventh.
They improved slightly toward the back end of the race, finishing sixth.
Their second race was a much closer affair as the differing tactics of crews made for some great racing.
The Kiwis were again among the top 10 crews in the race, finishing the first two legs in third before jumping to second on the third. After falling back to fourth soon after and looking like they were set to lose touch with the leaders, a well-sailed fifth leg saw them shoot back into second and chase the team from Brazil to the finish line.
While they were unable to catch the Brazilians, they crossed the line comfortably in second, ending the day in the same position on the ladder.
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Josh Junior also found his rhythm on the Tokyo waters, with two finishes inside the top 10 in the Finn regatta seeing him sneak up to eighth on the ladder.
After finishing 12th and 10th in the first two races, Junior again got off to a less than impressive start in today's opening race, rounding the first marker in 12th position.
A dream second leg saw him improve to sixth around the second marker. While he dropped a spot on the third leg, he again improved down the even-numbered leg, jumping from seventh to third where he ultimately finished the race - just five seconds off the leader.
Junior finished seventh in his second race of the day. While he was able to jump up into fourth on the second leg, Junior spent most of the race in seventh position, where he ultimately finished.
In the first day of the Nacra 17 regatta, Erica Dawson and Micah Wilkinson put together a string of consistent performances to sit in 13th on the leaderboard after finishing 11th and 12th twice in their three races on the day.
How the Kiwi sailing crews are placed:
Blair Tuke and Peter Burling (49er) - fourth overall after 4/12 races Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (men's 470) - second overall after 2/10 races Josh Junior (men's Finn) - eighth overall after 4/10 races Sam Meech (men's Laser) - 15th overall after 6/10 races Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (49er FX) - ninth overall after 6/12 races Erica Dawson and Micah Wilkinson (Nacra 17) - 13th overall after 3/12 races
