Spain sail to men's skiff gold after Dutch women win despite drama in final

Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trettel stormed to Olympic men's skiff gold on Friday, whilethe Netherlands' Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz clinched overall victory in the women's event despite a heat of the moment mistake.

Spain's Botin and Trettel, who are on a roll after winning the $2 million SailGP final in San Francisco in the far larger F50 catamaran class, led their medal race from start to finish.

They let their winged skiff capsize and roared with joy after crossing the finish line off the coast of Marseille.

"It's a dream come true. After years of putting the work in with the best team, with our families here, it doesn't get any better," Botin said.

Medals are decided by the overall lowest series score in Olympic sailing, with the medal race carrying double points, which can significantly change the outcomes at the end.

With the points tallied, the 'McKiwi' men's skiff of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie won silver for New Zealand and Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of the United States bronze after a strong showing in the medal race.

Earlier, the Dutch women recovered from a dramatic last-minute error to secure gold as the overall leaders on points, with Sweden landing silver and France bronze in the first medals of the 10-event Olympic sailing competition.

After race officials eventually confirmed their win, the Dutch pair leapt into the sparkling Mediterranean to celebrate.

The 49erFX world champions had sailed a masterclass in near perfect conditions, both at full stretch on their trapezes as their winged skiff streaked around the course, its spinnaker in the colours of the Dutch flag powering them downwind in the final leg towards what appeared a certain win.

But the race took a dramatic turn when the duo thought they were nearing the finish, only to realise they were heading in the wrong direction and had to dramatically alter course.

"We were supposed to sail a different course which we missed, which was a mistake on our part," said Van Aanholt, who got engaged to her long-term boyfriend, Dutch men's skiff helm Bart Lambriex, before the Games began.

"There were a few seconds where Annette and I had to be resilient in order to figure out what went wrong, and we did that quickly which in the end gave us the gold medal."

Odile van Aanholt and Anette Duetz triumph in Marseille's marina! 🌊
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Odile van Aanholt et Anette Duetz triomphent dans la marina de Marseille ! 🌊#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/TczTBCmZNF

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 2, 2024

The mistake allowed their Swedish training partners Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler to grab the medal race win and with it the silver medal on overall points.

French sailing veterans Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon, could not reproduce the speed they found in lighter winds and after stumbling on the start never got back into contention for gold, having to settle for bronze overall.

French fans and family gave the so-called 'Mama Team' a rousing welcome ashore, while the Dutch gold medal winners and their skiff were lifted shoulder high by their supporters onto the beach in a traditional Olympic sailing victory tradition.