Kingussie sailor just misses out on medal at Allianz Sailing World Championship
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Kingussie sailor Fynn Sterritt admits his time at the Allianz Sailing World Championships was bittersweet after narrowly missing out on a medal on the Dutch coast.
Sterritt and his partner James Peters came home in sixth place in The Hague, helping Great Britain seal a spot in the 49er classification at the Olympic Games in Paris.
That was a huge positive for the 34-year-old but it came tinged with disappointment after a tough end to the competition saw them fall away from medal contention.
“To be honest, it’s a little bit mixed,” said Sterritt.
“The main goal for the World Championships was to qualify the nation, we had to finish in the top ten to do that and we did. That was good to get that done, a bit of a weight off our shoulders.
“It’s not an easy task, there are lots of good nations who missed that first opportunity and we’ll now have to wait to do that later on this year.
“At the same time, it was probably the first regatta this year where James and I thought we had the package to go and really push for a medal.
“To just miss out in the last couple of days was quite hard to take, but I think with a little more time the positives will come through more than the disappointments.”
Though there was frustration about a poor finish to their campaign, the result marked an improvement on ninth at the Olympic test event in Marseille just a few weeks previously – testament to the work done in between events.
Sterritt said: “The test event was a bit disappointing, so we made a few little changes and came into the Worlds feeling much more confident.
“In all honesty, I think the Worlds was the first event this year where we felt that we could win a medal. We’ve had some big events this year and we haven’t had that feeling.
“We’ve had a bit of pressure and haven’t been able to deliver, so the Worlds was a step forward and that was a good feeling.
“We’ve learnt a lot from that and hopefully we can use that for our next competitions.”
Follow the British Sailing Team after the Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, on Instagram at @britishsailing
