Sills left frustrated by Marseille weather as he misses out on medal

By Tom Masters

Launceston windsurfing ace Sam Sills was left frustrated by the conditions as a wind drop cost him a medal spot at the Olympic Test Event in Marseille.

Sills, 30, finished seventh in the iQFOil class after a bitterly disappointing start to the week left him playing catch-up from the off.

He managed to give himself a chance of climbing onto the podium when reaching the quarterfinals but the drastic change in wind cost him a chance at a medal.

He said: “I gave it my best out there, but I am a bit gutted to be honest, I was there in second qualifying position, I was just keeping it simple, but conditions were really tough, the wind just completely dropped and that was it really, race over.

“It was pretty gutting to put it all on the line and then get shafted by that, there is never an easy way to lose but sometimes things just do not go your way.

“I am happy I was able to bring my best to the start line, it was looking very bad at the start of this championship a couple of days ago. I was really struggling, and I am proud that I clawed it back and got myself into a position to medal up until the last moment, so it is unfortunate really but that is how it goes sometimes.”

With the Test Event being held at the Marseille Marina, the venue for next summer's Olympic Games, this was the perfect dry run to master the tricky Mediterranean conditions.

Sills understood the importance of the week ahead of the Games and partaking in it has already got him dreaming of gold at Paris 2024.

“To be here at this Test Event is really a huge stepping stone towards the Olympics next year because it says test in front of it, but it is essentially the same thing, it is all the top ten guys in the world, all the teams are here preparing, everyone is trying to do their best here,” he added.

“It is the Olympics but not the Olympics and that was it, that was the test run, so it meant a hell of a lot out there.

“Before that race I was really imagining, this is going to be the Olympic Games next year, this is it, this will be everything we have worked for all these years.

“So, it feels very special to be able to experience this, it was so different from any other event, you can’t really grasp how different and hard it actually is - it is a small fleet, so fast guys have free lanes and that makes it difficult.

“I thought it was going to be quite a low scoring regatta, but it really was not, it was a really high scoring regatta, which is good to know actually for next year.

“I just cannot wait to get back on track and start preparing for the real deal.

“We are just making little steps forward all the time, we have got an amazing team, with great support in the background and we are going to keep chasing that goal.”

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