Smith and Ryan Further Build on Rio Dream

An eighth place finish to WAIS 470 sailor Carrie Smith and crew Jaime Ryan at the recent European Championships in Mallorca has strengthened their Olympic selection prospects.

The top ranked Australian pair enjoyed a steady week of racing to regularly post top 10 fleet race finishes before securing eighth place overall with an eighth place finish in the medal round.

With prospective Olympic selections for the women’s 470 crew likely in May, Smith and Ryan need to continue posting top ten regatta finishes to enhance their bid and their latest effort comes off the back of a recent medal race win in their campaign at Palma.

The pair has secured Australia a boat for August’s Olympics in Rio, but the Australian Sailing Team reserves the final say as to whether any crew will fill this quota, based on medal prioritisation for funding crews in Brazil.

Smith and Ryan finished well clear of the nearest Australian contestants, with Sasha Ryan and Ella Clark missing the medal round in 28th position overall.

This year’s European Championships field attracted a high quality fleet with many of the world’s best crews using the opportunity for regatta practice as the Olympics draw near.

Smith and Ryan secured three top five race results across the week, whilst missing the top ten on only three occasions, out a fleet of 57 crews.

Fellow WAIS sailor and Rio hopeful Caitlin Elks and her skipper Tess Lloyd currently sit in 12th place at the 2016 49erFX European Championships which are being held in Barcelona. A report on this regatta will follow at the culmination of racing.