Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell bring home yet another gold medal for Team GB, pipping New Zealand and the Germans to the post
Team GB has added another gold medal to the tally, this time in the sailing, as duo Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell win the men’s 49er class in a dramatic finish.
Fletcher and Bithell entered the final corner in second but still managed to beat the Germans across the line and finish just ahead of Germany and NZ’s defending champions, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, overall. Literally neck and neck stuff, right down the wire.
https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1422423823706640399?s=20
No nation has won more medals in Olympic sailing events than Team GB, with a fantastic 59 in total, 28 of those now being golds, thanks to Flecther and Bithell.
For those unaware, the 49er class is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance sailing dinghy: the 49 referring to the length of the boat itself. Fletcher opted to pair up with Bithell in the classification this year – who won silver back in 2012 – after finishing sixth with Alain Sign in the last tournament, and what a decision it turned out to be.
The pair took control early on in the race but it soon became clear that Germany’s Eric Heil and Thomas Ploessel would pose the biggest test. Thankfully, their second-place finish allowed Fletcher and Bithell to leapfrog the leaders in the standings and bring home yet another gold for Team GB.
We now sit on 12 gold medals, just four short of the 16 won at Rio 2016 and another two off the 18 notched at London 2012. We may have won less medals overall at this point than in the two previous tournaments, but Team GB looks to have so really good moment to finish the final week.
Quality stuff, guys – keep ’em coming!
