Bryony Shaw surges to windsurfing golf at ISAF Sailing World Cup Final
Sunday 30 November 2014 18:05, UK
Bryony Shaw secured the windsurfing gold medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi.
The 31-year-old held off her nearest rivals in the RS:X class as the British team clinched four medals on the final day of competition.
Shaw, an Olympic bronze medallist, held a commanding 16-point lead over France's world champion Charline Picon as they headed into the medal race.
A second placed finish was good enough to earn the overall victory, with Picon in third, and Shaw relished the challenge of protecting her lead.
"I was just keeping my eye on the French girl and matching her every move, which was good fun," she said.
"The two of us managed to get the best pressure up the first beat, rounding first and fourth - I was leading the race. One of the Chinese girls (Manjia Zheng) was sailing a really good race and she took the lead after the first lap. I maintained second all the way round and kept the French girl behind me."
Sophie Weguelin made a successful return to competition after three months of treatment for deep vein thrombosis as she and Eilidh McIntyre took silver in the 470 women's event, behind Austria's Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar.
Weguelin said: "We were quite tight on points going into the medal race, but we sailed quite a good race to win it, which moved us up into silver medal position, so we're very happy."
Nick Dempsey claimed the men's windsurfing bronze and there was also a third position on the podium for John Pink and Stuart Bithell in the 49er event.
Kiteboarding remains off the Olympic programme, but was included in the World Cup final as an invitational event and Britain's Ollie Bridge took first place.
