Sailing scoring may look complicated, but it’s actually pretty simple – you get one point per finishing position in each race. So, the winner of each race gets one point, 2nd gets two, 10th place finisher gets ten points etc. Sailors/crews can then discard their worst score and add up the rest and the lowest score wins.
The top ten crews in the skiff event – the 49er category – after 12 races qualify for the “medal race”. This isn’t a straight race for the medals but rather it’s a race where your score counts double. Winner gets two, 2nd gets four, 10th place gets 20. These are then added to the previous score and that’s the final score.
As that was being typed, it did actually sound a little complicated but regardless, for Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove the 12 preliminary races are over and there’s just the medal race left.
They currently stand in 2nd position on 73 points. The leaders are Spain on 68 and they’re not unassailable. If Ireland finish 3 places ahead of Spain in the medal race, they’ll beat them but, on the other hand, there’s 6 crews that can finish ahead of Ireland based on the final medal race. It is going to be very tight for the 3 medals on offer.
Here’s how those top 7 stand:
- Spain – 68
- Ireland – 73
- New Zealand – 76
- USA – 80
- Poland – 83
- Britain – 85
- Croatia - 85
Switzerland, China and Uruguay are also in the medal race, but they can't finish ahead of Ireland.
To guarantee a medal, Ireland must finish 4th or higher.
They can still win a medal if they finish lower than that, but it will depend on the results of those around them. The maximum score any nation can add is 20 now. The minimum is two.
Here are the scenarios
If Ireland win the final race
They’ll be on a maximum score of 75. They’ll be guaranteed to win silver and will win gold if Spain finish 4th or lower.
If Ireland finish 2nd in the medal race
They’ll be on a maximum score of 77. They’ll be guaranteed to win silver and will win gold if Spain finish 5th or lower.
If Ireland finish 3rd in the medal race
They’ll be on a maximum score of 79. They’ll be guaranteed to win bronze and will win gold if Spain finish 6th or lower and New Zealand finish 2nd or lower.
If Ireland finish 4th in the medal race
They'll finish on 81 points and they’re guaranteed bronze. The colour of their medal would depend on the combination of results elsewhere. We’ll try and explain more
For teams to finish ahead Ireland, here is what they need
- Spain – Just need to finish within 2 of Ireland. If Ireland are first, they need third, etc.
- New Zealand – Need to finish 2 ahead of Ireland to overtake them. If Ireland are third, they need to win, etc.
- USA – Need to finish 4 ahead of Ireland.
- Poland – Need to finish 5 ahead of Ireland.
- Britain – Need to finish 6 ahead of Ireland.
- Croatia – Need to finish 6 ahead of Ireland.
So for Ireland to guarantee a medal, they need for four of those things not to happen. The hardest way is to finish 9th and have all the stars align elsewhere. The simplest way of guaranteeing a medal though is to finish 4th or higher.
The medal race is scheduled to take place at 13:43 (Irish Time) in Marseille. Fingers crossed that Ireland can our third sailing medal in Olympic Games history.
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