Finn Hawkins stands on the cusp of a Youth Olympic windsurfing bronze medal at the end of day five at Buenos Aires 2018.
Hawkins is just one race away from a place on the podium after producing his best day on the water in the men’s windsurfing at the Games.
On the penultimate day of action, Hawkins recorded a fourth and two third place finishes as he heads into tomorrow’s final race on 23 points, 20 clear of Tomer Vardimon of Israel in fourth.
Today’s performance means Vardimon needs to win tomorrow’s race and hope the Brit finishes 12th or worse in order to overhaul Hawkins into the medal positions.
Islay Watson climbed two places to 11th in the women’s event following 10th, 11th and sixth place finishes today. The 17-year-old from Aviemore sits on 105 points with one race to go, nine points shy of a top 10 result.
In the gymnastics, Adam Tobin pitted his wits against the best male artistic gymnasts in the all-around competition. He proved beyond doubt that he is rightfully among this elite group as he put in a determined performance with some particular moments of brilliance, most notably on the vault, to finish fifth overall with a score of 79.573.
This followed strong displays on the floor and rings, however no one in the America Pavillion could match the supreme ability of Japanese gymnast Takeru Kitazono (82.298). The other medal spots were taken by Russia’s Sergei Naidin (80.498) and Diogo Soares from Brazil (80.265).
“I was pleased with fifth,” said Tobin at the completion of the men’s all-around competition. “I was in ninth at one point and had to do something spectacular to get back in the top six. I had to do the best vault I could and I did, I stuck that and got a high score.”
Speaking about his competitors, there was no surprises on who he went head to head with but one name definitely came as a shock. “The Japanese didn’t surprise me at all, he’s insane. I’ve competed against Sergei Naidin before in European competitions so I always have my eye on him. However, the Brazilian came out of nowhere.”
Looking ahead to the individual finals, there was no doubt in Tobin’s mind about his objectives admitting that he is “aiming for top three in the floor and hopefully rings too.”
In the triathlon, Team GB had representation in two of the European teams in the Mixed Team Relay, with Calum Young and Libby Coleman going head to head. Coleman started her team’s penultimate leg in eighth, and a strong swim saw her make-up four places, putting them at the front of the chasing pack.
She closed the gap still further after her cycle leg, before handing over to her Belgian partner with her team well within medal contention. They eventually finished in fifth position.
Coleman said, “I’m happy. We were so close to third, so it’s a bit disappointing coming fifth. I managed to close the girl in front down on the swim, which is pretty good because in my individual race I didn’t have the best of swims. It was pretty nice to put my team in medal contention.
Calum Young had the tough task of running the anchor leg for his team in the mixed relay. With the two-leaders way out in front, Young was forced into a three-way scramble for the bronze medal.
He was neck and neck with his Spanish counter-part heading into the final lap, however, a strong-run from the Spaniard saw him clinch the bronze, with Young and his team having to settle for fourth.
“It was a good race, but a bit disappointing coming fourth, but we were seeded fifth and came fourth so we did better than we expected to do,” said Young. “The relay is a lot shorter, and it feels a lot harder. It can get very tactical at times and is very exciting to watch.”
Team GB’s final taekwondo athlete, Sharissa Gannaway went in the +63kg event, facing off against Iranian fighter Kimia Hemati. It was Hemati who was on the board first, finding success landing headshots to Gannaway.
Despite the Southampton-born fighter staying close in the opening two rounds the Iranian stretched her lead in the final round, running out an eventual 19-8 winner.
“I’d trained hard for this so it’s tough to take. It was frustrating today as she caught me with shots I knew she would be looking to get,” said a disappointed Gannaway.
Chris Grimley will battle for bronze in the badminton mixed team relay after his team, Zeta, lost an agonising semi-final 110-109.
The mixed relay pits players from a variety of nations together, playing singles and doubles matches consecutively. Grimley will feature as part of Team Zeta in tomorrow’s bronze medal match.
James Miller’s Youth Olympic Games ended at the last 16 stage in the mixed 10m air pistol team event. Miller, who finished ninth in the individual, was partnered with France’s Kateline Nicolas and the pair eased through qualifying with 739 before losing in the first knockout round to Vanessar Seeger of Germany and Bulgaria’s Kiril Kirov.
Finally, at the Hurlingham Club Lily May Humphreys enjoyed a strong finish to the individual competition with a +3 score of 73, which meant she shared 11th place with Mexican golfer Maria Fernanda Martinez Almeida. Australian Grace Kim won gold, whilst Italian Alessia Nobilio and Emma Spitz won silver and bronze respectively
In the men’s event, Team GB’s Joe Pagdin was unable to complete his final round due to illness while Karl Vilips made it a double gold for Australia, pushing American Akshay Bhatia and Jerry Ji from the Netherlands into second and third.
Image credit: Olympic Information Service of Finn Hawkins, Team GB