Silver Lining for Outteridge and Jensen in Rio

There has been more silver for Australia at Marina da Gloria with Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen finishing second in the 49er class.

With gold out of reach heading into the medal race, the NSWIS duo did everything they could on the final day of competition.

Silver was the best possible result for the London 2012 champions and the Australians delivered when it mattered.

After starting the day in third, Outteridge and Jensen crossed the line in fourth place, moving past the second-ranked Germans who came eighth.

It was also good enough to hold off the fourth-placed Great Britain who could have swamped them both on the final day.

“There was always that thought in our heads that it could slip out of our control,” Outteridge said.

“If we weren’t at the top of our game they would have passed us,”

“It was stressful but we held our nerve. We had to keep passing boats and we kept our heads and did that, and kept the race in our control.”

“To be ahead of the two guys we needed to beat relaxed the nerves a bit.”

The Australians’ gold medal defence was over in the early stages of the competition when the New Zealand crew rolled out one of the most dominant performances in any sport at these Olympics.

It capped a stunning campaign for NSWIS sailors in Rio.

As well as Outteridge and Jensen, Tom Burton won gold in the Laser class and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmamin won silver in the Nacra 17 Mixed class.