Baltimore's Maria Coleman was the first of the Irish sailors to go into action at the Sydney 2000 Olympic regatta and ended her first day afloat in a creditable sixth place overall in the single-handed Europe class. While the shifting winds over the past week were not as upsetting as before, the predicted running order after the first two races has not lived up to expectations.
Coleman's opening race, one of her worst results of recent months, compared well to others in the 27-strong fleet - 11th place.
During that race, she even dropped to the low 20s early on but sailed steadily up the fleet, suggesting good boat-speed and a steady nerve, in spite of the pressure of being the first of the sailing squad to compete.
By the second race, Coleman started to move well up the class and a fifth place brought her to sixth overall and four points away from a bronze medal result. However, yesterday was just the first two of 11 scheduled races. One discard is permitted in the series which will be applied after race six. However, the leaderboard after day one will be a source of encouragement.
Both the gold and silver medallists from Savannah in 1996 had mixed results yesterday when world champion Kristine Roug of Denmark and Holland's Margriet Mattijsse failed to finish in the top 10 overall after day one. Only Britain's Shirley Robertson showed real form with a fourth and a third place, leaving her first overall on a small points advantage.
Roug was reported to have had difficulties in getting clean starts and a fourth and 21st placing left her mid-fleet in 14th overall.
Similarly, Mattijsse opened her regatta with a convincing first place only to follow this with a certain candidate for her discard - 24th to leave her 12th overall. However, neither should be written off at this early stage as both could easily work into the leaders' bunch as the regatta progresses.
Coleman races again on Saturday when David Burrows in the Finn, along with Mark Mansfield and David O'Brien in the Star keelboat, sail their first two races.
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