Mat Belcher and Lake Macquarie’s Will Ryan have secured Australia’s second sailing gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in style, winning the 470 medal race that served as a ceremonial victory lap.
Belcher and Ryan held an unassailable lead at the start of Wednesday’s finale, as was the case when fellow sailor Matt Wearn secured one of Australia’s four gold medals on a record-breaking Sunday.
The pairing reached the finish line first in Enoshima, completing a landmark win in the men’s event that will not be part of Paris 2024 as per the International Olympic Committee’s push for gender equality.
Belcher has become the nation’s most successful sailor in Olympic history after collecting his third medal.
The 38-year-old won gold in the men’s 470 with Malcolm Page at London 2012 and teamed up with Ryan to finish second at Rio 2016.
Australia were remarkably consistent across the 10 regular heats that preceded the medal race, winning three and finishing second on three occasions.
Belcher and Ryan started off the pace on Wednesday, allowing rivals to jostle for points that could make or break their hopes of a medal, but quickly headed the group of leaders.
The duo were all smiles as they hugged after clinching gold, with Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom finishing second ahead of Spanish bronze medallists Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz and Jordi Xammar.
Australia have dominated the class, routinely winning World Cups and world championships, but Belcher admitted “it’s quite a rare situation” to start a medal race without any pressure.
“It doesn’t matter where we finish … we will breathe easy,” he told the Seven Network before the race.
“Enjoy the race and get around the course, that is all we need to do.”
Ryan, speaking alongside Belcher, admitted it was a “little bit anti-climactic”.
“We are going in today trying not to make a mistake and when it’s normally about winning,” he said.
While there will not be a men’s 470 class at the next Olympics, there will be a mixed 470.
The final sailing medal race in Japan will be the women’s 470 later on Wednesday but Australians Monique de Vries and Nia Jerwood won’t take part as they finished 16th after the regular races.
AAP
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