Olympic Selection for Luke?

Luke Patience and his crew Stuart Bithell have surely put themselves in the box seat for Olympic Selection in the 470 class with a Silver medal at the ISAF Worlds in Perth, Australia.  The nearest British contenders were down in 10th spot.

One big question mark over the pair’s form has been whether they can sustain momentum right up to the end of big events.  Well they certainly succeeded in Perth with a win in the medal race, which they led from the start.

Early races saw a string of firsts but an arm injury to Luke on Day 3 of racing resulted in some poorer results.  They persevered though, with the assistance of many painkillers, and came right back at the end.  An outstanding result.

A gold medal was a theoretical possibility for the British duo heading into the final race, but with the Australian titleholders Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page 18 points ahead, Luke and Stuart were focused on their own race and protecting silver.  After a good start they took an early lead and never looked back, winning the race and claiming their second World Championship Silver since teaming up in 2009.

“We’re feeling great, we’re really happy,” said Luke.  ”It’s been a really long week and me and Stuart have worked so hard for this regatta.  Much of our training for the last three or four months has been towards this week”.

“I know we’re not standing on the gold position on the podium, and that’s what we intended to be, but it’s been a hard week and the Australians have sailed fantastically, so we’re happy to be stood on the podium with a silver medal.”

“We’ll be having a good Christmas because of that!”

Decision date for Olympic selection is 6th January.