Morris Makes his Move

Windsurfer and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete Grae Morris put a horror start to the day behind him to move up to seventh overall after posting Australia’s first race win at the Paris Olympics today.

The young sailor from Sydney’s Woollahra Sailing Club had to shake off a Did Not Start (DNS) in the first race of the day after he mistimed the start and missed the 2-minute window in which to start the race after the starting signal, but from there it was all uphill with four top ten finishes.

“I put all my skills together and ended up winning a race, so it feels good to know that I have it there,” said Morris of his moving day. “I just need to keep performing and make the most of the next couple races to climb up the leaderboard.”

It was a hot, dusty and erratic wind that came in from over the mountains of Marseille for day three, which peaked at 18 knots but troughed at 5 across some courses.

Morris will need to master all conditions if he is to challenge for a medal at his maiden Olympic Games.

“We’ll see how the next couple days go. There’s lots of time and lots of races to go.”

Australia’s Women’s Skiff team of Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine consolidated their position and have edged up to sixth overall with three races to go before a potential Medal Race on Thursday.

After two days of light winds most teams are carrying a range of results on their scorecards, so Price knows anything can happen over the next two days.

“The regatta is still wide open and there’s a lot that we can still do in the next three races tomorrow,” the London 2012 silver medallist said after racing.

“Obviously, we left some points out there today and that was some things within our control and some other shifty stuff that was outside.”

NSWIS athletes Jim Colley and Shaun Connor showed what they are capable of in the Men’s Skiff, taking out third in the second race of the day and will attack the last three fleet races with confidence tomorrow.

“It felt like we sailed slightly better today, which was nice,” said Colley. “While we still didn’t feel like we really sailed as well as we could have today, we felt like we made some gains.”

Australian Olympic Sailing Team Leader Iain Brambell spoke of the up-and-down day for the Aussies when he said “The Aussie Skiffs and Grae took full advantage of today’s wind and choppy conditions. Appreciating the relentless training hours and attention to detail that has gone into f these individual campaigns it was fantastic to see the sailors and coaches rewarded with today’s race win and top ten keeper performances.

“There is no athlete within the team that is content with where they are and I’m looking forward to seeing them back on the water tomorrow to pick-up where they left off.”

It will be another full race card tomorrow as the Race Committee make the most of the breeze kicking in.

“We can expect the same conditions tomorrow,” concluded Price. “So today was a good preparation and we’re definitely going to leave it all out there.”

Article and image courtesy of Australian Sailing

Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings

Women’s Skiff (20 entries)
1^st: Odile Van Aanholt & Annette Duetz (NED) 5, 1, 1, 10, 8, 5, (19), 3, 2 – 35 points

2^nd: Sarah Steyaert & Charline Picon (FRA) 2, 2, 2, 8, 2, 2, (12), 11, 10 – 39 pts

3^rd: Vilma Bobeck & Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14, 6, (15), 4, 15, 10, 2, 1, 5 – 57 pts
6^th: Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (AUS) 6, 8, 16, 7, 11, 3, (20), 10, 9 – 70 pts

Men’s Windsurfer (24 entries)
1^st: Luc Van Opzeeland (NED) (25), 9, 2, 1, 6, 1 – 19 points2^nd: Pawel Tarnowski (POL) (12), 3, 6, 2, 9, 2 – 22 pts3^rd: Tom Reuveny (ISR) 8, (13), 5, 3, 3, 4 – 23 pts
7^th: Grae Morris (AUS) 13, (25 DNS), 10, 9, 1, 7 – 40 pts

Men’s Skiff (20 entries)
1^st: Diego Botin Le Chever & Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (16), 6, 4, 5, 11, 2, 3, 2, 2 – 35 pts

2^nd: Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove (IRL) 9, 4, 1, 4, 2, (21 DSQ), 4, 13, 9 – 46 pts
3^rd:  Isaac Kale McHardie & William McKenzie (NZL) 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, (18), 17 – 50 pts
15^th: Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AUS) (19), 17, 10, 14, 10, 9, 12, 3, 10 – 85 pts