Two Australians have finished in the top 10 at this year’s Laser Worlds Championships in Mexico. West Australian Matt Wearn has taken fourth place; while NSW’s Tom Burton has finished the event in sixth place overall. The event was won by Great Britain's Nick Thompson, with Jean-Baptiste Bernax (FRA) second and Rutger Van Schaardenburg (NED) third.
Wearn’s sixth place in today’s first race looked promising for a podium finish; however, Van Schaardenburg made a last minute dash for the Bronze in the final race of the regatta, winning race 14 and moving up into third place overall just two points clear of Wearn on the overall leaderboard.
“We saw some big left shifts today that we haven't seen for the past two weeks,” said Wearn at the conclusion of racing. “It made racing extremely difficult. I sailed well in the first race to give myself a nice buffer going in to the final race; but didn't get the shifts right in the final race and made some big errors.
“All-in-all I’m happy with the result. It has been a tough week both mentally and physically. I’m extremely happy to get another solid result at a world championship and even though I may not be going to the Games it's nice to take something out from the year and show my potential.”
Meanwhile NSW’s Tom Burton put together two consistent races today to add a 16 and a 6 to his overall results. Burton will now look towards Rio, where he will represent Australia in the Laser class at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
“This regatta has been tough, but a good eye opener on what needs improvement over the next few months,” said Burton at the end of the regatta. “I normally enjoy a range of conditions but we didn't really see a lot of variance over the week.
“I’ve identified some positives that I’m happy with, together with some things to look at closely and try to improve for the next regatta in Weymouth and then obviously the Olympics.”
Other Aussies competing at the regatta include Mitchell Kennedy, who finished 40th overall; Luke Elliott 42nd; Jeremy O’Connell 46th and Mark Spearman 48th.
– Megan McKay/AST
112 sailors from 44 countries competed at the event.
