Price and crew fifth at Women’s Match Racing World Championship

Nina Curtis, Olivia Price and Lucinda Whitty on the podium in Weymouth

Craig Heydon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Price and crew fifth at Women’s Match Racing World Championship

Released: Saturday, June 30, 2012

Australian sailors Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty have finished fifth at the 2012 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in challenging conditions in Gottenburg, Sweden.

On Friday the Australian trio took on the top seven crews in a round robin to decide the semi-finalists for the final Women’s Match Racing event ahead of next month’s London 2012 Olympic Games.

Price and crew finished the day with three wins and four losses to be fifth overall, narrowly missing out on a spot in the semi-finals, – a single race win against either Ekaterina Skudina, Claire Leroy, Silja Lehtinen or Sally Barkow being the difference.

Strong southeasterly winds gusting up to 30 knots tested the top eight crews with the flat seas allowing the Elliot 6’s to speed downwind.

The strong gusts resulted in a number of broaches and damaged boats throughout the day, with the crews pushed hard all day.

Price and crew started the day with a win against Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina before losses against Claire Leroy of France, Silja Lehtinen of Finland and the two American crews of Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow.

Price, Curtis and Whitty finished their regatta on a high with wins against Great Britain’s Lucy Macgregor and Renee Groeneveld of the Netherlands.

The next time the Australians will be in action is when they make their Olympic debut at the end of July.

Full results can be found at www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results.

For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.

Australian sailors through to next stage of Women’s Match Racing World Championship

Released: Thursday, June 28, 2012

Australia’s Women’s Match Racing team has won their way through to the next stage of racing at the 2012 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Gottenburg, Sweden.

The Australian trio of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty finished third in their group with five wins and two losses from the opening round robin.

After being unbeaten on day one Price and crew finished off the round robin on Wednesday with a win against American Sally Barkow and losses against Russian sailor Ekaterina Skudina and American Anna Tunnicliffe.

“So far we're very happy with our qualifying round robin results finishing third overall in the group,” said Price. “We had some tough races today, and even though we made some mistakes we were still able to create opportunities and apply pressure during all three races.

“The racing today was very close, especially in our race against Sally Barkow, where we took the lead at the second top mark after applying pressure upwind the final time,” she said. “We were in a gybing dual down the last run, and we took the win by less than a boat length.

“Our races today were the toughest ones we’ve had this regatta, and our race with Anna Tunnicliffe included the whole package of racing, with us being over at the start line, a penalty given to her, then one to us, and resulted in three lead changes,” she said.

Price, Curtis, Whitty and their gold round robin competitors will spend Thursday off the water while the crews who finished in the bottom half of their groups race to decide positions nine through 16.

On Friday the top eight crews will be back in action, taking part in a full round robin. The Australians will race their seven opponents once each with the top four crews to qualify for the semi-finals.

Full results can be found at www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results/.

For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.

Price and crew start strongly at Women’s Match Racing World Championship

Released: Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Australian sailors Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty are off to a perfect start at the 2012 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Sweden with four wins from four races on the opening day.

Price, Curtis and Whitty ended day one in a four way tie for the lead of their group after the top four crews all recorded wins against the lower ranked crews.

The Australians picked up wins against Mandy Mulder of the Netherlands, French crews of Julie Bossard and Anne-Claire Le Berre and local sailor Anna Kjellberg.

"We started the World Championships with a solid day on the water with four wins and no losses on the scorecard,” said Price. “It was light winds and quite a variable day here.

"Our first race of the day against Le Berre was abandoned due to a race committee error, which in turn gave us a good chance to warm up for the day,” she said. "The four races against Mulder, Bossard, Kjellberg and Le Berre were great for us to continue our systems onboard, especially after our past two weeks of solid training in Weymouth."

On Wednesday Price and crew will race against two American crews, including reigning World Champion Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow and Russian sailor Ekaterina Skudina.

"Tomorrow is going to be similar conditions, and so it will be a good chance to finish the last three races of the group, against some top competitors before the gold group is announced after racing,” said Price. “The format is slightly different to the World Cups, where the top four from each group go through to a gold group round robin and the top four teams will then compete in the semi finals."

Results during the regatta can be found at www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results/.

For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.

Aussie Women’s Match Racers prepare for final hit out ahead of London 2012

Released: Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Australian sailors Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty will face their final test before the London 2012 Olympic Games this week, competing in the 2012 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

Racing begins in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Tuesday with the Australians taking on the world’s best 15 Women’s Match Racing crews in their last opportunity to line up against their Olympic opponents ahead of next month’s Games.

Price, Curtis and Whitty head into the event off the back of a number of strong performances so far this year, culminating in their gold medal at the recent ISAF Sailing World Cup round in Weymouth, England.

The Australian trio has made three trips to the podium from four ISAF Sailing World Cup rounds this year, with their gold in Weymouth coming after winning silver in Miami in January and bronze in Spain in April.

“We've had a good few training blocks before these World Championships which is going to be a good platform to start racing again on Tuesday,” said Price. “We're feeling strong as a team after all of our training over here and after the result at the Sail for Gold regatta a few weeks back.

“This is the final regatta before the Olympics so we’re just going to approach it as another practice for the Games,” she said. “We're happy with our results in the World Cup this year so we aren't going to change much for this regatta.

“All three of us are excited to go racing again after these last training blocks,” said Price.

Price and crew head into the 2012 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship ranked number six in the world, their highest position since teaming up in the middle of 2011.

They finished eighth at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championship and will be out to continue their strong 2012 form in Sweden. Earlier this month Price, Curtis and Whitty were named to represent Australia at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Racing begins on Tuesday 26 June with the 16 teams split into two groups. The top four from each group will advance to the gold group where they will race for one of the top four spots to progress to the semi-final and then final.

Results during the regatta can be found at www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results/.

For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.