Josh Junior ends 2016 Finn European Champs in 4th

Josh Junior ends 2016 Finn European Champs in 4th

The 2016 Finn European Championships has wrapped up in Barcelona, Spain where New Zealand’s Josh Junior has finished 4th overall.

Fellow NZL Sailing Team representative Andrew Murdoch has finished 19th.

Today the entire fleet sailed one more fleet race, following which the top ten advanced to sail the double points medal race.

Lying 2nd going into today Junior, from the Worser Bay Boating Club, took a knock in the standings when he finished 30th in the final fleet race. He went on to place 4th in the medal race.

Speaking after racing today Junior said he was pretty happy with the week. “It's been pretty light. We've had 7-11 knots all week and for me that's challenging racing, so I am really happy to come away with a fourth.”

“I think the last two races of the fleet racing series I threw away any medal chances. I got a 40th and 30th and that dropped me down the fleet,” he concedes.

Reflecting on the bigger picture, Junior says he is pleased to have made up ground after missing a top ten finish at last year’s Finn Gold Cup hosted in Auckland.

“But it is nice to bounce back into the top five after a 14th in Takapuna, so just continue like that for the rest of the year and we'll be looking good going into the Olympics.”

Speaking generally of this regatta in Barcelona, Junior says, “It's a pretty awesome fleet we had here with 90 boats and some pretty good sailors, so I think it's been a great week, though a bit unfortunate with the light breeze for a lot of a it but still, we had some great racing in the end.”

The title of 2016 Finn European Champion went to Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) who held onto his penultimate day lead to win the crown. Hungary’s Zsombor Berecz won the silver medal and Croatia’s Milan Vujasinovic won bronze.

Andrew Murdoch improved his final position in the regatta after today. In the final fleet race he finished 17th to lift one spot to 19th overall in the fleet of 90 boats.

In five months, on 9 August 2016, racing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta gets underway on Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.

The kiwi men campaigning in the Finn are ultimately aiming for selection to the New Zealand Olympic Team to Rio 2016 and it is likely to be one of the toughest decisions selectors will face.

The next events on the European circuit include Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca from 25 March to 2 April, and then Sailing World Cup Hyeres Regatta in France from 25 April to 1 May 2016.

John Cutler, Olympic bronze medallist in the Finn at Soeul 1988, is coach to the NZL Sailing Team Finn squad.

2016 Finn European Championships
New Zealand’s current standings

4th Josh Junior
19th Andrew Murdoch
77th Brendan McCarty

ENDS

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