Steinlein, who competes for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) in Hamburg, started the first quarter-final of the day in eighth place in the qualifying races. Finally, the wind in the bay off Marseille was blowing constantly at around 16 to 18 knots. Ideal conditions for the seven women, who were competing for two places in the semi-finals. And Steinlein got off to a furious start, was right at the front and was able to pull away from the field a little with Frenchwoman Helen Noesmoen. The two went onto the cross together. Yan from China and German from Peuran, who were only in seventh and fifth place respectively at the buoy, took a full risk and opted for the other side of the course. And the risk paid off. At the windward mark, they suddenly had a 13-second lead over Steinlein, who in turn was able to pull away from Noesmoen. Steinlein tried everything again on the deep space course towards the finish, but the lead of the Chinese and Peruvian was too big. As there were no more crosses on the course, which was only around seven minutes long, Steinlein had no chance of countering. This denied her a place in the semi-finals, but her third place meant that she was able to work her way up to sixth place overall. Congratulations on this outstanding performance.
Briton Wilson "loses" gold
In the semi-finals, Yan and German were no match for the two seeded semi-finalists Marta Maggetti (ITA) and Sharon Kantor from Israel. Maggetti and Kantor progressed to the medal race, where they met the superior Brit Emma Wilson. Wilson had won eight out of 14 heats and would have been impossible to catch in normal regatta formats. She would have been sure of gold. Not so at the championships with the iQFOiLs. As the leader, she was seeded for the final of the top three - so she was sure of a medal - but she could still lose gold. And the worst case scenario from her point of view materialised. She led from the start but then made a mistake and was suddenly a whopping 22 seconds behind Italy's Marta Maggetti at the windward mark. She then surfed confidently to the finish and took gold ahead of Sharon Kantor. Bitter for the Brit.
Israleli Reuveny grabs gold
Spurred on by the success of his compatriot Kantor, Tom Reuveny wanted to win another medal for Israel in the men's event. And he went one better in the final, taking gold ahead of Australia's Grae Morris, who had led after the heats, and Luuc van Opzeeland from the Netherlands.
Sebastian Kördel narrowly missed out on a place in the Medal Series and had to settle for twelfth place overall.
Tomorrow you can read a big final report with interviews and analyses of the successful iQFOiL premiere at the Olympic Games here.
You can find all the results in the World Sailing Result Centre
