Sailing: Britain’s girls collect first gold
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson are the three girls who took Britain’s first gold medal at the World Championships of sailing.
It wasn’t easy, though. After falling off their Yngling, Wilson had to scramble back on board and their closest rival, Shirley Robertson, with whom the two Sarahs won gold in Athens, was forced to take a penalty which ended any chance of toppling her former crew.
Robertson, who won bronze, had had a poor start as Ayton grabbed the windward end of the line. It had looked as if she had ideas of turning it into a match rather than a medal, race, but Ayton soon broke off the encounter. Robertson suffered from having done extra downspeed. She came fifth ino the top mark whereas Ayton was second. Having been only one point apart going into the double-points medal decider, Ayton could then sail her own race as Robertson was last rounding the bottom mark first time.
Both Sarahs and Pippa are going to China for the Olympic test event next month.
Congratulations girls!
