Giles Scott admits he learned a lot about what to expect at Tokyo 2020 after he was forced to settle for silver at the Sailing World Cup Series Enoshima in Japan. The four-time Finn world champion, making his return to the Olympic circuit following a four-month hiatus, was in second position heading into the medal race on Sunday. But the race could not be sailed due to a lack of wind, which meant Scott did not have a chance to overhaul Netherlands’ Nicholas Heiner, while Brit teammate Ed Wright finished with bronze. And while Scott was frustrated not to get a chance to go for gold, he said there was still plenty he could take away from the first major event on Tokyo 2020 Olympic waters. “It’s been an interesting week, been out here for almost three weeks now and we’ve have some really different conditions,” said the 31-year-old Rio 2016 champion. “I suppose the reason I came out here was to get used to the Olympic venue and see what it has to offer, it seemingly has an awful lot to offer as it’s been very varied conditions.
“To come here and race against some top guys and come away with a silver medal is great. I’ve been away from the Finn for a little while now and it’s probably about time to start ramping it up again.”
Scott had only competed in three other international regattas in the Finn class since winning gold at Rio 2016, largely due to his commitments with Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team.
Yet the Weymouth sailor won in all three events as he claimed gold in 2017’s Enoshima Olympic Week, the World Cup Series Miami and Palma’s Princess Sofia Trophy in April.
“Everyone who races wants to win and I’m certainly no different to that,” Scott added.
“I’m very committed to this Olympic programme and while I have a lot to juggle with other commitments, it’s just a case of onwards as it was.”
In the women’s 470, Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre’s hopes of climbing onto the podium were also dealt a blow by the weather as they were unable to improve on their fifth place.
“It’s been a tough week and we certainly weren’t firing on all cylinders, but it’s been really good to come here as it’s my first time seeing the Olympic venue and Japan,” said Mills.
“It’s just great to see it all, get used to the environment, understand what it’s like and then we can really plan for next year and Tokyo 2020.
“It’s frustrating as we crawled our way back into a position where we could attack and try and get a medal and to not have that chance is just really disappointing.”
“We’ve done our best, we’ve had a good week, and we’ll just take away what we can,” added McIntyre. “It’s not what we came here for, but we can take some learning points forward.”
Meanwhile, Elliot Hanson had already secured gold in the Laser class ahead of his medal race after building up a massive 43 point-point lead on second-placed Thomas Saunders of New Zealand.
And the 24-year-old was delighted to finish top of the podium after his disappointment of missing out on the medals at the recent World Championships.
“It's an amazing feeling to perform so dominantly on the Olympic waters,” said Hanson. “It didn't sink in how disappointed I was to let my medal slip away at the World Championships in Aarhus until I got home.” Sportsbeat 2018