Sailors continue fine form for NSWIS para athletes

The fine form of NSWIS Para athletes has continued this week with sailors Daniel Fitzgibbon, Liesl Tesch and Jonathan Harris all winning bronze medals at the Para World Sailing Championships in Medemblik, Netherlands. 

With good sailing conditions, overlayed with a building breeze and a warm northerly challenging competitors, it was Fitzgibbon and Tesch who delivered first, the defending Skud 18 champions claiming bronze in a thrilling finish. 

The day had gone awry for Fitzgibbon and Tesch in the penultimate race of the day when they were disqualified, meaning that they needed a strong final race to stay within hope of a medal. With the pressure on the NSW duo stepped up to the plate for a strong start to the race, leading Great Britain and Poland around the top mark and to the finish line, that victory the tonic needed to keep them in the medals. 

“It’s been a long week on the Eiselmaar,” Fitzgibbon told Sailing Australia. 

“We have learned a lot this week and will take this away and use it in our preparations for Rio.” 

Meanwhile fellow NSWIS athlete Jonathan Harris provided highlights in the Sonar Class alongside Western Australia’s Colin Harrison and Russell Boaden as they also earned a bronze medal. 

While it was eventually the bottom step of the dais that the Aussies stood on in the Sonar Class, the gold medal was an open race going into the final event with the top four teams separated by six points. 

Come the end of the race it was Great Britain who won, taking silver from Australia along the way, the medallists eventually separated by just three points.