Greece Lightning: Armit's Race Win Secures Spot In Medal Showdown

New Zealand’s hopes of silverware at the iQFOIL European championships rest on Josh Armit.

The rising windfoil star last night (NZ time) booked his spot in the knockout medal series in Greece by blitzing to his first race win of the regatta – in the last of 18 qualifying attempts.

Armit took out the final gold-fleet race of the competition, beating Australian Grae Morris and Thomas Goyard of France to remain ninth on the overall leaderboard and make the top-10 cut-off for tonight’s showdown.

It was almost a very different outcome, however, with the 21-year-old Kiwi’s victory following a disqualification from the only other race of the day for a premature start.

Though discarded, the subsequent 58 points – Armit’s highest score of the event – could have hurt his chances of qualification.

“That was a pretty heart-stopping moment,” admitted coach Nathan Handley. “After that, we had a chat about just resetting for the next one and Josh came out and took a bullet [first place]. That was awesome, really cool.”

Armit, who finished fourth at last month’s Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, is now only two races from the podium but he will have to beat at least seven other boarders – five in the quarterfinal and two in the semis, should he advance.

The current ranking leaders automatically qualified for the final, while the second and third positions secured semifinal berths. The remaining competitors in the top 10, including Armit, will battle it out in the quarterfinal, with two moving on.

German world champion Sebastian Koerdel leads the men’s fleet, followed by Dutch duo Luuc van Opzeeland and Kiran Badloe.

“Josh going through in ninth means he has nothing to lose,” said Handley. “If he can win a couple he can go through to the final and still be in with a shot for a medal.”

If Armit had any nerves ahead of a big day, he wasn’t showing it.

“I’m keen for tomorrow,” he said.

“There should be some breeze again and it will be good fun.”

Also saving his best for last in Patras was teammate Patrick Haybittle.

The 24-year-old Aucklander shook off the effects of a nasty crash on day four, punching in a 4 and 9 in the final gold-fleet races to climb to 35th overall.

Thomas Crook narrowly missed out on the medal series, after he was unable to improve on his overall ranking of 12th with final-day scores of 27 and 22.

Eli Liefting finished the competition in a respectable 36th.

“I was happy to link together a few races and have some good days. If someone had told me I'd be 12th in the Europeans going into this regatta, I might not have necessarily believed them,” Crook said.

“To get into my first medal race would have been the icing on the cake. This regatta has highlighted some areas to work on, but it was nice to see that some of the work we've been doing over the last while seems to have helped.”

The windfoil squad have spent almost two months abroad – competing in Spain, before a 10-day training camp in Marseille ahead of the Europeans.

“I’m really proud of the guys – Josh getting into the medal race and Thomas finishing 12th is an exceptional result, as is Eli and Patrick getting personal bests,” said Handley.

“It’s been a great effort after a long time away from home, especially as the standard [of windfoiling] is only getting harder.”

Veerle ten Have finished a tough competition on a high – claiming a tenth place in the second of three course races to finish just outside the top 20.

Sharon Kantor (Israel) retained her position at the top of the women’s fleet to advance to the three-board medal showdown, with compatriot Shahar Tibi in second and Britain’s Emma Wilson in third.

Results and standings after day 5 of the iQFOIL European championships in Patras, Greece:
Men's fleet (114 boards)
1st: Sebastian Koerdel (Ger) 2 (9) 2 1 (7) 3 2 5 2 (11) 1 1 1 11 1 1 8 (47) - 41 points
2nd: Luuc van Opzeeland (Ned) 3 2 2 3 (9) (7) 5 1 1 3 7 2 1 3 3 (DSQ39) 15 (RET58) - 51 pts
3rd: Kiran Badloe (Ned) 7 (9) 6 (31) 5 3 6 3 5 2 4 5 7 1 3 (9) (31) 5 - 62 pts
9th: Josh Armit (NZ) (10) 5 6 3 2 4 (10) 2 12 16 21 6 5 (23) 9 5 (BFD58) 1 - 97 pts
12th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 6 2 5 (17) (18) 9 11 15 7 5 2 16 11 19 (25) 15 (27) 22 - 145 pts
35th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) 16 (30) 8 9 19 22 28 (30) 28 30 25 27 (BFD39) RDG32.30 25 (33) 4 9 - 282.3 pts
36th: Eli Liefting (NZ) 14 (19) 18 (22) 17 12 12 11 (BFD58) (49) 22 40 27 9 33 25 17 30 - 287 pts

Women’s fleet (89 boards)
1st: Sharon Kantor (Isr) (15) (10) 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 (27) 7 7 3 (12) 3 1 - 34 pts
2nd: Shahar Tibi (Isr) 7 1 (14) 5 (11) 4 4 4 3 5 2 3 (41) 5 1 1 3 1 (19) - 49 pts
3rd: Emma Wilson (GBR) 1 3 1 3 3 (6) (BFD46) 2 (25) 9 RDG14.40 8 13 3 1 (37) 1 2 3 - 67.4 pts
25th: Veerle ten Have (NZ) 8 2 7 4 (11) 6 7 (17) 26 17 32 18 (37) RDG37 27 (BFD47) 25 10 29 - 255 pts

© Scoop Media