Day Two Olympic Preview - Laser and Laser Radial

Laser and Laser Radial - Day Two Preview
The Men's and Women's One Person Dinghies move North to compete on the Ponte course for the first time, up at the top of Guanabara Bay. Both fleets are set to compete in two 50-minute races.

The big news overnight is that yesterday's winner in the Women's Laser Radial fleet, Lijia Xu (CHN), was disqualified after Paige Railey (USA) successfully brought a protest against the reigning Olympic Champion after arguing that the Chinese sailor had failed to execute her penalty turn in time. This drops Xu down the rankings to 23rd, elevating the London 2012 silver medallist Marit Bouwmeester (NED) to the top of the scoreboard. Gintare Scheidt (LTU) almost had a great day yesterday, but even her victory in race 2 was not enough to cheer her up after the Lithuanian discovered she'd been disqualified for starting too soon in race 1, when the 2008 silver medallist crossed the finish line in 2nd place only to discover her expensive start-line error.

Meanwhile in the Men's Singlehanders, Gintare's husband Robert Scheidt (BRA) had experienced a very similar day, bombing out with a 23rd in race 1 but emulating his wife by winning race 2. The five-time Olympic medallist still sits in a respectable seventh place, with a number of his main rivals further behind him in the rankings. Tom Burton (AUS) and reigning World Champion Nick Thompson (GBR) lie in 10th and 11th respectively, while the London 2012 silver medallist Pavlos Kontides (CYP) has a lot to do back in 19th. Setting the early pace are Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) and Julio Alsogaray (ARG) who sit at the top of the board with six points apiece. Lying in third is Sergei Komissarov (RUS).