July 30, 2021 - Tonči Stipanović will enter the race for an Olympic medal in the Laser class from 3rd place! On Sunday at 7:33 am Croatia time, he will have the opportunity to win his second medal at the Olympic Games after winning silver in Rio de Janeiro.
The top ten sailors in the class will sail in the medal race, reports Sportske Novosti.
The Mornar Split sailor has 74 negative points, three more than the second-placed Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard and two less than the Cypriot Pavlos Contides, otherwise a club colleague. The gold has already been secured by Australian Matt Wearn, he is the successor of compatriot Tom Burton. Tomasgaard, Stipanović, and Kontides will try to secure two spots on the podium in a regatta in which the points are doubled (2, 4, 6, 8...). Every other sailor is quite far away - German Philipp Bühl in 5th place has 85 negative points.
The last two regattas that sailed on Friday proved to be very interesting. Stipanović recorded results of 7 and 10. Through the second regatta, he climbed from 21st place in the first turn, but the key thing was the big drop of Kontides (24), as well as Tomasgaard (19) in the first voyage. In the same way, the legendary Brazilian Robert Scheidt (24, 16) dropped out of the medal competition, falling to 6th place.
Sunday will be another great day for Croatian sport, as the 35-year-old from Split will have the opportunity to climb the Olympic podium for the second time!
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