Kirkland brothers miss out on medal race
Photos
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Bermuda brothers Jesse (left) and Zander Kirkland (right) in action during this week?s Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta. Last night?s provisional results had the Kirklands finishing in 12th position overall.BER 1108, Jesse Kirkland, Alexander Kirkland, 49er, BER Photo supplied by Daniel Forster
Jesse and Zander Kirkland came up agonisingly short in their bid to advance to the medal race at the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta yesterday.
The sailing siblings, who are bidding to qualify for this year’s Olympics in the UK, began yesterday’s series of races in Biscayne Bay 13th in the overall 23-boat 49er fleet and needed to break into the top ten at the end of the day to progress to the business end of the regatta.
But despite putting in a solid display the local pair ultimately fell shy of the cut by a slim one-point margin after posting finishes of tenth, 14th and third respectively.
“It was agonising because we know we have the potential to do it,” said crew Zander Kirkland. “We came agonisingly close to making the medal race.”
The Kirklands might have taken some degree of consolation after finishing the regatta off strongly with a third-place finish in yesterday’s final race their second podium display of the week.
“In the last race we were winning and we fell to third so there’s definitely positives to take from this event,” Zander said. “We were battling with top guys in the world and so we are pretty happy when it’s blowing 14 knots to be going quick enough to be in the top three in this fleet.”
Provisional results posted online last night showed the Kirklands holding down 12th spot in a 49er fleet that includes 2008 Olympic gold medallist Jonas Warrer of Denmark.
Zander attributed his team’s creditable showing in Miami this week to the expertise of Argentine coach Ramon.
“This is our first event working with our coach Ramon and I think he is very optimistic on our potential and we obviously love having his input, which I think was a big part of it,” he said.
Ramon will remain with the Kirkland brothers in the lead up to their final 2012 Olympic qualifier to be held in Croatia in May.
“I think we have good team work chemistry going with Ramon through the final Olympic qualifier,” Zander said.
Zander will remain in Miami to continue sharpening his skills while junior sibling Jesse recovers from groin injury at home.
Earlier in the regatta skipper Jesse escaped serious injury after being struck in the head by the spinnaker of a rival boat while rounding the leeward mark.
The Kirkland’s best showing in Miami this week arrived in the third race which they finished runner up.
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Published Jan 28, 2012 at 5:29 am (Updated Jan 28, 2012 at 5:27 am)