Grae Morris is keeping his cool while waiting to tackle the race of his young life, with his windsurfing gold medal bid put on hold because of calm conditions at the Olympic regatta in Marseille.
The 20-year-old from Sydney credited himself on remaining calm while some of his opponents were losing their heads in the week-long qualification series at the marina.
He needed to keep his patience on Friday when winds dropped to five knots, forcing organisers to postpone the windsurfing final until Saturday in the southern French port city.
“Grae is keen to get out there and continue what he has been doing so well all week,” said Australian sailing team leader Iain Brambell.
“The race may have been delayed, but it hasn’t in any way affected Grae. He is here to do the job, and both Grae and (coach) Arthur (Brett) know there is work to do tomorrow.”
The good news for Morris is that after a week of light winds, the Mistral is expected to blow tomorrow.
Before the wind began to die down, Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine completed their women’s skiff medal race, finishing ninth and in that same position overall.
“We achieved a whole lot more than people probably thought we could,” said Price, praising her fellow 2023 World Championship bronze winner Haseldine.
“My dream was to go to the Olympics and do what we've done. It almost feels like we've won a medal, because the feat of just getting here was one in itself,” said Haseldine.
Matt Wearn, the Tokyo ILCA 7 gold medallist, had a win and an eighteenth place finish from his two races for an early overall lead in the men's dinghy.
Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas opened their mixed dinghy campaign with a promising sixth-place finish, but they were disqualified for a false start second time out.
