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Unfavourable winds: Wandsworth’s Bryony Shaw faces challenge to make RS:X Rio 2016 final

A second disappointing performance for Bryony Shaw in the RS:X windsurfing preliminaries severely damaged the south west Londoner’s chances of winning a medal yesterday.

Finishing seventh, 15th and 12th in day two’s races, she dropped to 11th in the overall standings.

Shaw will have to put in a strong performance in the next six preliminary races to be able to contend for a medal, as only the top ten boats go through to the medal race.

Yesterday’s performance comes after what Shaw called a ‘nightmare day’ in the first day of racing.

Italy’s Flavia Tartaglini took the lead from France’s Charline Picon after an excellent double victory in the first two races of the day.

On 49 points overall, Shaw sits just 1.2 points out of the top 10, but trails the medal positions by 31 points.

Shaw came into the Rio games on a run of excellent form, finishing second in Eilat’s World Championships earlier this year.

Better news for British sailing came in the men’s RS:X event, where Nick Dempsey’s successful appeal after coming 14th in the final race allowed him to hold onto a three-point lead over second-placed Dorian van Rijsselberghe.

Dempsey and Shaw will begin their third round of preliminaries on Thursday, August 11, beginning at 5.05pm and 5.15pm respectively.

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