Sophie Weguelin admitted she was happy to settle for silver with women’s 470 partner Eilidh McIntyre at the Hyeres ISAF Sailing World Cup despite believing gold was a possibility at one stage.
Weguelin and McIntrye claimed Britain’s only medal at the regatta and sailed the ten-boat medal race all but assured of a place on the podium with a finish of second seeing them consolidate that position overall.
World and Olympic Champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie had a comfortable 12-point lead going into the final day although Weguelin did feel at one stage that the New Zealand duo could be caught.
Still silver is a fine achievement for the pair considering McIntyre broke her finger in a training accident in February, missed the penultimate World Cup of the season in Palma and only had a pin remove days before Hyeres.
“It was a tough race actually. The Americans had a little chase of us at the start but we got away cleanly in the end so that was great,” said Weguelin.
“A few boats went back at the start and at one point it looked like it was possible to win the event but our main focus was on defending the silver medal.
“It’s been a big time off for us unexpectedly, so we know we’ve got more to work on. Our boat-handling was a bit scrappy and at times we were a bit annoyed with ourselves.
“But that’s only natural and there’s plenty to work on going into the season.”
© Sportsbeat 2014