Tokyo begins
Mara Stransky and Matt Wearn have both made their Olympic debuts, and begun Australia’s pursuit for Olympic gold.
26 July 2021
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Mara Stransky and Matt Wearn have commenced the Australian Olympic sailing team’s campaign, competing in the One Person Dinghy (Laser) on 25 July.
Unfortunately, the combination of light winds, a delay, a postponement and tough races saw both Stransky and Wearn finish 21st and 17th, respectively.
“Today was a really light and variable day which made things tricky. It would have been nice to start in a little more stable breeze. In the morning, Mara started in east-north-easterly winds, and the day finished in a very light south-westerly, so the breeze effectively did a 180-degree turn during the day,” said Team Leader Iain Murray.
“Mara had a great first race but tougher second race, and Matt had a tough race with a 17th. He’ll bounce back from that, and he knows that his job just got a bit harder. But the good guys will rise from it and carry on, there are ten races, and we look forward to getting back on the water tomorrow.”
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Mara Stransky was the first Australian out on the racecourse today, making her Olympic debut, where she posted a 12th and a 26th in her two races.
The young Queenslander got away quickly in the first race, but a dropping breeze made the run home challenging, subsequently causing a delay before the second race.
“As I went to jump on my boat, I stood on a sea urchin,” added Stransky on the day’s sailing woes.
“I felt the spine go through my boot and into my foot. So I spent my sail out trying to pull bits of sea creature out of my foot.”
Also making their Olympic debut today was Matt Wearn, who finished 17th in the only race for the day. A significant shift in the wind during the second race sadly forced a postponement.
“Matt got a nice start in the middle of the line, but a few little things didn’t go his way – a port tack, a bad cross here or there and then went the wrong way up the course as well didn’t help,” said Wearn’s coach Michael Blackburn.
“The leaders came out of the right-hand side of the fleet, and at one stage, Matt was near guys who led around the top, and then he’d hit a bit of low pressure, and some other guys got a bit more pressure. So there are 5–8 percent differences in wind speed or a few degrees difference in wind direction making a big difference, and Matt was just on the wrong side of those by a little bit.”
On 26 July’s forecast, Blackburn said, “It is for more of the offshore winds tomorrow, so that will be quite shifty and variable which can help keep all the competitor scores a bit higher which might help us. I think Matt is in a good place going into the races, which was reflected in the starts he got today.”
Both Wearn and Stransky will be sailing on 26 July, with Wearn scheduled to commence racing at 1:05pm AEST. Race three for the Women’s One Person Dinghy (Laser) is scheduled to commence on 26 July at 3:30pm AEST.
Both races will be streaming live on 7Plus.
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