Cecilia Wollmann stormed to a superb second-place finish in her Laser Radial race at the Pan Am Games in Lake Ontario yesterday.

Wollmann, who at 17 is one of the youngest sailors in the 16-boat fleet, bounced back from her disappointing second day’s finishes of thirteenth and fourteenth to produce arguably the best performance of her blossoming career.

The result has not only boosted Wollmann’s confidence but also her chances of reaching this weekend’s medal races by finishing in the top half of the fleet.

“Everything just worked out and I had really good boat speed,” said Wollmann, who is making her Pan Am Games debut.

“I had a good start and was able to stay on top of the fleet and remain in front [for most of the race]. It was nice to be up there today after my not-so-good start [to the competition].

Had it not been for insufficient wind at the sailing venue, Wollmann’s day may have got even better, with the Saltus Grammar School pupil tied in first place with Canada’s Brenda Bowskill in the second race when it was abandoned.

It was the second time lack of wind has cost Wollmann at the Games. She was leading the pack in her second race on Sunday when it also fell foul of the conditions.

“I was winning today’s second race as well, so it kind of sucked that it happened again to me,” said Wollmann, who finished eleventh in Sunday’s opening race.

“I’ve definitely climbed in the results and hopefully I can continue to do more races like that and continue to move up.”

Wollmann expects today to be slightly more challenging with racing to be held in Toronto Harbour.

“It’s going to be a lot shiftier and puffier, and very hard to compete in,” said Wollmann, who finished tenth in the Byte CII class at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, last summer.

Also racing in Lake Ontario yesterday was Cameron Pimentel in the Laser class. It proved to be another testing day for the 24-year-old, who finished eleventh in his race. The Lasers also only managed one race because of the wind.

“It was an OK race for me and I’m reasonably happy,” said Pimentel, whose finishes so far have been fifteenth, twelfth and fourteenth.

“It could have been better because I made a bit of an error on the downwind that cost me a couple of places.”

Pimentel said he has to put his disappointments into perspective considering the qualify of sailors he is facing.

“I have to manage my expectations when I’m comparing myself to the rest of the [15-boat] fleet, who are a lot more experienced than me. This is definitely the best small fleet I’ve sailed in by far.”

Pimentel also returns to action today.