Sailing - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson world champions star class
Last updated 25/01/2010 20:00:57
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson world champions star class
British sailors and supreme optimists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson added the Star class world title to their Olympic crown with victory in Rio de Janeiro.
The brilliant partnership, who won the two-man keelboat class at the 2008 Beijing Games, dominated the Star worlds on the prospective waters of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Leading going into the sixth and final race, the British pairing covered the Swiss, the only team that could topple them to ensure victory.
Both teams came well down the pack in the final reckoning but Percy and Simpson made sure they did enough for victory.
The 33-year-old Englishmen scored a first, two seconds and a fourth, with a worst finish of 11th discarded, for a total of nine points going into the final race on Guanabara Bay.
The Swiss pair of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria, who trailed the Britons by eight points, held on for silver in light conditions on Thursday.
Brazilian Torben Grael came third in race six to claim the bronze medal.
Percy and Simpson were world bronze medallists in 2007, while Percy also won Olympic gold in the single-handed Finn class in the Sydney Games of 2000.
The next Star World Championships will be in December 2011 in Fremantle, Australia.
Rio de Janeiro race results:
1. Mark Mendelblatt/John Von Schwarz (USA) - 1 lost point
2. Alexander Schlonski/Frithjof Kleen (GER) - 2
3. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) - 3
4. Fernando Echavarri/Fernando Rodrigues (ESP) - 4
5. Lars Grael/Ronald Seifert (BRA) - 5
6. Fredrik Loof/John Tillander (SWE) - 6
7. Johannes Polgar/Markus Koy (GER) - 7
8. Gustavo Lima/Carles Nankin (POR) - 8
9. George Szabo/Rick Peters (USA) - 9
10. Diego Negri/Fernando Colaninno (ITA) - 10
12. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (SUI) - 12
Overall results after six races (discarding the worst result):
1. Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) - 18 (2+11+2+1+4+16)
2. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (SUI) - 29 (30+1+6+4+6+12)
3. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) - 39 (5+25+21+7+3+3)
4. Lars Grael/Ronald Seifert (BRA) - 44 (35+15+12+10+2+5)
5. Alan Adler/Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) - 44 (6+5+11+13+9+74)
6. Diego Negri/Fernando Colaninno (ITA) - 52 (23+18+5+6+13+10)
7. Fredrik Loof/John Tillander (SWE) - 52 (8+9+18+19+11+6)
8. Eivind Melleby/Petter Pedersen (NOR) - 54 (9+10+4+16+16+15)
9. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) - 64 (3+19+50+5+5+32)
10. Johannes Babendererde/Timo Jacobs (GER) - 66 (1+8+39+8+15+34)
16. Gastão Brun/Gustavo Kunze (BRA) - 73 (21+7+15+48+8+22)
21. André Mirsky/Marcelo Jordão (BRA) - 98 (33+6+22+3+35+34)
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