Aug. 3, 2006  

Xu builds lead as rivals fade with the wind  

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.—A 19-year-old girl was the favorite to win the Laser Radial Women's Worlds this week, but it won't be America's Paige Railey, the defending champion and No. 1-ranked competitor in the new Olympic class. Instead, it appears the title is Lijia Xu's to lose. After an 11th-place finish followed by her first win of the week Thursday, the tall and slender lesser known teenager from Shanghai has a 12-point lead over Germany's Petra Niemann with two of 12 races remaining Friday. The other four top five contenders---Florida's No. 2-ranked Anna Tunnicliffe, France's Sarah Steyaert, Poland's three-time world champion Katarzyna Szotynska and France's Solenne Brain---all fell out of contention on a tricky day when going the wrong way cost a painful price. Railey is in the rare territory of ninth overall, 47 points off the pace, after a 29th and a fourth. With the second and last discard race now factored into the scoring, Xu could afford at least one bad race Friday, but she doesn't seem concerned. "To win the world championship isn't my first goal," she said. "Making progress would mean more to getting to my goal." The Olympics? "That's everybody's goal. I just want to get the chance to represent my country in the Olympics."  Which, of course, will be in her country in 2008. Xu has been best at solving the Chinese puzzle that is Santa Monica Bay. After a day and a half of mid-teens breeze, the wind went back to a light 5 ½ to 9 knots Thursday, and most of Xu's closest pursuers suffered in the shifts and lulls. She fought for 11th place in the first race but still extended her lead on the next three, as Niemann chased her all the way.  And when she overtook Australia's Krystal Weir, the 2004 world champion, to win the second race she all but put the title in the bank, as No. 2-ranked Anna Tunnicliffe of Florida suffered 33rd and 10 places---her worst day of the week by far---and Railey's hopes for a comeback all but vanished with a 29th, though she kept fighting to finish the second race with a fourth. The best results of the day were posted by Belgium's No, 8-ranked Evi Van Acker with a 1-3, Niemann (2-5) and Mexico's Tania Elias Calles Wolf (6-2). Van Acker, a 20-year-old chemistry student at the University of Amsterdam, said, "[The wind] was really [favored on the] right today. I wasn't sure of it, but it just felt right, and all of the other girls in the lead had gone to the left side [of the course]. I felt good today." Calles Wolf said, "It was very shifty, and the breeze was up and down all the time." Xu and Van Acker seem likely to meet again at Qingdao, and probably a few times before. Van Acker said that in Belgium "it's just me and a bunch of younger girls sailing Radials, and nobody else is running a full campaign."  Weir, 21, sailed her best race in a disappointing week to lead Xu in the second race until the second upwind leg. "She caught me when I just didn't cover her well," Weir said.
"I've had a very up and down regatta. Yesterday I had a 20 and a 4 and today I had a 22 and a 2. The conditions are quite challenging and the starts are quite congested. If you don't get a good start and have to go through the fleet, it's tough."   But like most of her peers, she likes the boat switch. "It was a good decision," she said. "The Europe was more technical and the same girls were always in the top 10. Now it's much more competitive." Meanwhile, Railey and nine others in the women's Gold fleet, along with the women's Silver and the men's Radial Worlds, are tiptoeing with two yellow flag infractions involving Rule 42 kinetics---pumping the sail, sculling or rocking. Three means a boot from the regatta. In all, there have been 35 first yellows plus the 10 seconds.

The Laser Radial Worlds are supported by sponsors Nestlé, producer of Arrowhead Water and PowerBar©; Vanguard Boats, Sailing World Magazine, Body Glove and the John B. and Nelly Llanos Kilroy Foundation. Their Web sites may be accessed through the logos in this release.

Class leaders (provisional; after 10 of 12 races): WOMEN'S RADIAL WORLDS Gold Fleet 1. Lijia Xu, China, 6-4-6-(33)-3-2-3-3-(11)-1, 28 points. 2. Petra Niemann, Germany, 5-1-4-(25)-1-(16)-16-6-2-5, 40. 3. Evi Van Acker, Belgium, 2-3-(25)-20-10-5-(23)-9, 53. 4. Tania Elias Calles Wolf, Mexico, 8-8-8-3-9-(23)-1-(26)-6, 55. 5. Sarah Steyaert, France, 1-24-(32)-1-6-1-2-2-19-(36), 56. Silver Fleet 1. Olivia Powrie, New Zealand, 9-(36)-(34)-25-10-26-11-5-5-3, 97.  2. Hanne Jansch, Germany, 14-27-31-(36)-(44)-3-2-8-8-7, 99.  3. Nathalie Brugger, Switzerland, 18-(32)-19-16-22-(37)-7-16-1-9, 108. 4. Maria Elin Samdal, Norway, (33)-20-(26)-26-26-7-20-6-4-2, 111. 5. Alberte Holm Lindberg, Denmark, 28-(31)-(33)-15-20-13-16-2-13, 114. , MEN'S RADIAL WORLDS 1. Steven Le Fevre, The Netherlands, 4-4-1-(41)-15-2-4-(31)-17-1, 48.2. Fabio Pillar, Brazil, 16-12-5-1-4-9-(30)-(27)-2-4, 53. 3. Jon Emmett, Great Britain, 18-2-(25)-16-6-1-5-7-11-(23), 67. 4. Steven Krol, The Netherlands, 2-1-(20)-15-3-(19)-7-20-14-7, 68.  5. Ryan Seaton, Ireland, 5-(25)-9-(46)-13-7-2-10-16-12, 74.  

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