Yachting: Kiwis sailing into medal races at Majorca event

Four teams of New Zealanders will contest today's medal races on the final day of the Princess Sofia yachting regatta in Palma de Majorca, Spain.

All four who have qualified for the double points medal races are in the top five of their respective fleets.

Boardsailor Tom Ashley is third in the men's RS:X while the women's 470 duo of Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie improved to fourth.

Laser sailors Michael Bullot, now in third place overall, and Andrew Murdoch, who retains his fifth position, are the remaining two New Zealanders qualified for the medal races.

Ashley, the Olympic champion in his first big international competition since Beijing, is seven points adrift of Byron Kokkalanis from Greece, and one point off Shahar Zubari (Israel). Today's medal race, which cannot be discarded, is worth double points.

Points are relatively tight among the top six in the Laser class going into today's medal race, although leader Javier Hernandez (Spain) has a jump on the pack on 44 points total.

Bullot is in third place after returning a 14th and a fourth, with 55 points, while Murdoch is fifth on 58 points after placing ninth, then 15th.

Aleh and Powrie have improved their standing in the women's 470 fleet as the regatta has progressed, and are five points off third place, a massive 30 points adrift of the leaders.

This is the third of seven events in the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.

- NZPA