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Britain’s Ellie Aldridge became the first ever Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing with a brilliant performance in Marseille.
The discipline, which sees competitors fly above the water at up to 40 knots powered by huge kites, is making its Games debut
And 27-year-old Aldridge, from Dorset, powered her way to gold by winning two races in the final series on Thursday.
The success salvages what had been a hugely disappointing regatta for Britain in one of its traditionally strongest medal sports, with Emma Wilson’s bronze in windsurfing the only previous medal.
Light winds have made it a very frustrating fortnight for the sailors, with numerous races delayed and cancelled.
Aldridge went into the final tied on points with France’s Lauriane Nolot but behind her on count-back after failing to even reach the start-line in the last race.
Three wins are needed in the final series for an athlete to clinch gold, but the leader begins with two wins and second place with one, so it was all or nothing for Aldridge in the opening bout.
She handled it perfectly, leading virtually from start to finish to tie things up, and Aldridge, the world silver medallist, was even more dominant in the second race, with Nolot falling off her board early on and putting herself out of contention.
Aldridge was able to cruise to the finish line before celebrating her moment of history.
Earlier, there was major disappointment for John Gimson and Anna Burnet after their Olympic medal hopes were ended by disqualification in the medal race of the mixed multihull.
They went into the medal race in third position and well placed to match the silver they claimed in Tokyo.
But they crossed the start-line fractionally early and, after not crossing back to start again, which would have erased the penalty, they were ejected from the race and slipped to fourth.
Gimson said: “We were over the starting line and we didn’t realise we were so we continued with the race. We heard the shout but we thought we were bang on the line. We have to take it on the chin.
“We try not to judge ourselves on results. I’m unbelievably proud of how we sailed this week.
“We chipped away every day and got ourselves in medal contention for the medal race. We’ve won a podium at every single regatta this cycle so there’s no regrets.”
Gimson and Burnet’s only hope was for the race to be abandoned until the wind picked up – a scenario that cost their British team-mate Micky Beckett a medal in the men’s dinghy on Wednesday – but that did not happen.
“It’s the worst way to lose the medal I guess because we were totally in control of the race,” said Burnet. “But that’s sport and that’s sailing. It’s been a tough old week. We’ve all given it our best and maybe it just wasn’t to be.”
Gimson and Burnet can not afford to dwell on their disappointment, though, with their wedding coming up early next month.
“Hopefully the wedding planning will be a good distraction,” said Gimson. “We’re about to find out how far Anna’s mum’s got with it. We’ve got a couple of weeks now. I’m sure you can sort a wedding out in a couple of weeks.”
