Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson have collected New Zealand’s second sailing medal of the Paris Olympics.
The pair sewed up the bronze medal after their nearest rivals were disqualified in the mixed multihull (nacra) medal race off Marseille on Thursday.
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Dawson, 30, from Auckland, and Wilkinson, 28, from Waikato, went into the double-points medal race level with Great Britain, behind runaway leaders Italy and within reach of second-placed Argentina.
Things could not have gone better for the New Zealanders when the British boat crossed the start line prematurely and did not return to complete a legitimate start. That meant they were disqualified and New Zealand were assured of at least a bronze medal.
They then set their sights on Argentina, hoping to rise to silver position. But the Argentinians sailed conservatively, mindful to keep New Zealand in their sights.
Needing to finish three places ahead of Argentina to claim silver, New Zealand finished eighth in the final race, one place behind Argentina. The final points tally was Italy 31, Argentina 55, New Zealand 63 and Great Britain 69.
Wilkinson has been sailing at Nacra world championships since 2018 and teamed up with Dawson in 2019. The pair finished 12th at the Tokyo Olympics.
Wilkinson said the plan before the regatta was to go out and enjoy it without putting expectations on themselves.
"I can't believe it. The medal caps off a good week of work. It wasn't pretty today, but we did the job."
Dawson said it was a very rewarding end to a long campaign with a lot of hard work.
"For it to come together and for us to peak at this event ... I'm so happy," she said. "We wanted to be a strong team throughout the regatta, and to have fun out there."
The medal was The NZ Team's second bronze at the Paris Games and 11th medal overall. New Zealand's first sailing medal in Marseille came with a silver by Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie in the men's skiff (49er).
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