Alison Young has rounded off an impressive weekend of World Championship action for Britain’s sailors with a fourth place – her best Worlds finish to date – as the Laser Radial World Championships drew to a close in Boltenhagen, Germany, yesterday.
The 24-year-old (pictured), who earned her call-up to Team GB for the 2012 Games just eleven days ago, secured her confidence-boosting result after six days of competition at the German venue, which served up a mix of conditions during the course of the regatta.
Young, whose previous World Championship best came at the Perth 2011 event in December where she finished seventh, was poised in third place – just one point behind the silver medal position – heading into the final two races on Sunday, and counted seven top ten results from the ten races held to that point.
In spite of picking up a disqualification for a second yellow flag in the penultimate race of the regatta – a fate also suffered by one of her key medal rivals Sari Multala of Finland – the Skandia Team GBR sailor still remained within touching distance of the podium spots.
A 19th from the final race saw Young ultimately miss on the medals by just four points behind Multala, with gold going to Lithuania’s Gintare Scheidt and silver to China’s Xu Lijia.
Skandia Team GBR’s Charlotte Dobson concluded her regatta in tenth, with development squad Radial sailor Chloe Martin securing 14th.
RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park said, “Ali has proven this week that she can trouble the world’s best across a range of conditions, and do it on the big stage when it matters.
“Although she’ll no doubt be disappointed to have just missed out on the podium this time around, she’ll take huge confidence from her performance this week which I’m sure will spur her on in the final weeks of her build-up to the Games.”
More info: www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow the team on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr)
Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
