Australia has won four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the men’s dinghy (laser) sailing, after sailor Matt Wearn defended his Tokyo gold medal in light Marseille conditions on Wednesday afternoon.
The nation’s remarkable winning run began at London 2012, through Tom Slingsby, before Tom Burton won gold at Rio 2016. Wearn, now 28, first won gold in the class three years ago at the Tokyo Games, before a composed performance in the final saw him sail away as Olympic champion once more. He is the first man to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the dinghy class.
But Wearn was made to wait for his medal – the final race was originally scheduled for Tuesday, before a lack of wind at the Marseille marina saw it postponed until Wednesday. Wearn was looking comfortable halfway through an initial medal race, until race organisers decided to abandon the event and delay for a couple of hours following a major wind shift. Finally, in the late afternoon on Wednesday, Wearn raced for the medal once more.
The Australian’s skill over eight qualifying races gave him a 14-point lead over Cyprus’s Pavlos Kontides, meaning Wearn could do no worse than finish with the silver medal on the waters of Marseille. But his dominance in the class was again on show, Wearn putting in a canny performance to win the race and secure the gold medal.
To overhaul Wearn’s lead, Kontides would have needed to finish seven places above him – but the Cypriot ultimately finished just behind the two-time Olympic champion, in second. Kontides won the silver medal, while Peru’s Stefano Peschiera took bronze.
Kontides got a slight jump on Wearn in the opening stages, with the London 2012 silver medallist passing around the first marker in second, seven seconds ahead of his Australian rival. Wearn dropped a position on the run to the second marker, before a clever tack around the third marker saw him overtake Kontides – who seemed to protest, but to no avail.
The move rocketed Wearn into the lead, and he stayed there on the final downwind section to the fourth mark, before putting in a clean run to the finish. It sealed the medal race and the overall gold.
“I was probably feeling a bit more emotional before the race,” Wearn said after the race. “It hasn’t really sunk in. I thought I’d break down pretty quickly but it’s just pure excitement. It’s something no one’s done before, going back to back in the ILCA [dinghy] – or the laser as it was before. That was a massive goal and I’ve made it happen so it’s pretty special.”
Wearn’s victory is all the more remarkable after his campaign in the build-up to Paris was derailed by health issues, including long Covid and several other ailments. It took the Australian more than six months to return to full training, but in France he was clearly back at his best.
Wearn is the first Australian skipper to defend an Olympic crown in the sailing since Mal Page went back to back in the 470 class, in Beijing and London, albeit with different crewmates. Earlier this week in Marseille, Australia’s Grae Morris won a silver medal in the men’s windsurfing.
The victory on Wednesday is Australia’s 15th gold medal of the Olympics; the nation’s all-time Olympic record is 17 golds, set in 2004 at the Athens Games and again at Tokyo 2020. Four days of action remain in Paris.
