Matt Wearn has continued Australia’s legacy of success in the Laser class at the Olympic Games, with the Western Australian assuring Australia’s third straight Gold Medal in the class.
 
The likeable lad from Perth has an insurmountable 22-point lead after the final two races of the 10-race qualifying series. Wearn will officially race for the Gold in the Medal Race this Sunday, but just needs to show every endeavour to start and finish the race to take out the crown.
 
“I’m just over the moon,” said Wearn as he came ashore. “It seems a bit surreal right about now. There are still two days left of our competition including the Medal Race to go, so to do it before that and have it signed, sealed and delivered is all you can ask for really.”
 
He has done it the hard way, passing up on a potential AFL career and moving from Perth to Sydney at a young age to chase his dream of Olympic Gold. He also started the regatta with two poor results, but fought his way back and is tonight pinching himself.
 
“It was a tough day of racing, but I am happy to finish off with that. And yeah, I’m going to be a Gold Medallist.”
 
Perth will be celebrating tonight, with his home clubs (Fremantle Sailing Club and Royal Perth Yacht Club) and family members among those raising a glass.
 
“I am still processing it myself,” said Matt’s dad Brad Wearn after the final race. “It’s his destiny. This has been his goal since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. We are just so proud of him, he’s pushed himself so hard and has been surrounded by great people along the way.”
 
Wearn wont be able to celebrate with family tonight, and making things more difficult is that COVID protocols will also prevent him from celebrating with fiancé Emma Plasschaert who is sailing the Laser Radial for Belgium at these Games.
 
“We haven’t been able to see each other much over the past six months or even whilst we’ve been here with the COVID measures,” finished Wearn. “But knowing that she’s been here for the whole time has been really special.”
 
Channel Seven will broadcast Matt’s Medal Race, which is scheduled to commence at 1:30PM AEST this Sunday.

22-year-old Mara Stransky shocked the world on the final day of her first Olympic campaign today. She set aside the disappointment of yesterday’s performances to put together the race day of her life, finishing her regatta with a third and a win in the final fleet race.
 
It was mixed emotions for Stransky, as despite the stunning results today they were still not enough to overturn a deficit and qualify for Sunday’s medal race. “I am stoked that I did finally have a good day, but I am just disappointed that it didn’t happen a bit sooner,” said Stransky after racing. “It’s kind of mixed feelings because if I had gotten myself together a little bit earlier it could be a different story over the next couple of days, but I was going to be a bit down in quarantine if I hadn’t done what I did today.”
 
The results are no surprise to those who know Mara, her resilience and ability to bounce back are becoming her trademarks. “They are things that I do pride myself on. Yesterday I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to show them, but I did it today as I felt like I had things to make up for myself.”

Five-time World Champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan are missing just one medal from their collection as a team, and today they took another step in the direction of that elusive Olympic gold medal after extending their lead in the Men’s 470 class.
 
Belcher won the Olympic title in 2012 with crew Mal Page, but it is the Silver the pair won at Rio 2016 that fuels the fire powering their Tokyo 2020 performance.
 
“We feel like we are sailing well,” said Belcher. “We kept it simple and put up two good scores so we are really happy with where things are at. Our speed was really good and we are feeling good, so it is nice to walk away with two good ones today.”
 
The pair navigated a tricky day of light winds, but fortune often favours the brave in sailing. “You just had to be in the right place at the right time,” continued Belcher. “I think we were probably a little bit lucky with that today. Some of that is a little bit of intuition and what your gut feel is, and we put ourselves out there a little bit today.”
 
The pair get a well earned day off tomorrow, and Belcher has his plans set. “A bit of Netflix, talk to the kids and go through the emails.”

Western Australian duo Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries will come out swinging after a rest day tomorrow, as they will be looking to use the last two fleet races to springboard into next Wednesday’s Medal Race.
 
They will look to put a tricky day today behind them. “Bad starts and it didn’t really get better from there,” surmised de Vries. “There’s a couple of things that we learnt from today, so we will just try to build on that for the next couple of days.
 
“It’s meant to be light for the next few days of racing so we will go away and work on our starting. Take the lessons we learned form today and try to put them in place for the next two days of racing.”

Australia’s 49erFX team of Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan were back out on water today.

“It was a very tricky day and we would have liked to have come away with a better result” said Lloyd after racing “but it is not the end of the regatta and we’ve got one more day to go so lots more opportunities”.

The duo currently sit in 14^th position and are keen to get back out tomorrow and give it all they’ve got. When asked about the today’s light conditions Lloyd said “It was on the light side but it is good the Olympics has a mix of conditions which we are enjoying. We’re excited and ready for a new day tomorrow.”

Australia’s 49er team of Will and Sam Phillips sit on the cusp of Medal Race qualification with just one race day to come at Tokyo 2020.
 
The duo from Melbourne’s Sorrento Sailing and Couta Boat Club have added a UFD to their scorecard, but will be looking to bounce back in their three scheduled races tomorrow.
 
Their first race is scheduled for 1:05pm AEST.