Beckett frustrated as gold slips away in Marseille

By Tom Masters

Solva sailor Micky Beckett was left frustrated after a medal race to forget saw him miss out on gold in the Olympic Test Event in Marseille.

Beckett, 28, spent everyday bar one in the lead and was in prime position to capitalise on that with gold heading into the all-important medal race.

Unfortunately for him it was not to be, finishing ninth in the medal race to drop to second overall behind reigning Olympic champion Matt Wearn of Australia.

Beckett was left understandably disappointed by the end result but did confess that he would have certainly taken silver before the event began.

“To be honest, it was a pretty tough last day, to cut a long story short, I made a bit of a hash of that medal race," said Beckett, who would have taken gold had he finished in the top five of the medal races.

“Matt Wearn nailed it, and I was on the back foot from the start of the race, I tried to catch up, but I didn’t, and I finished near the back of the medal race and slipped down to second overall.

“I’ll be honest, I had a bit of a sense of humour failure at the time, but it is tricky because I am still very happy to come second, I would have bitten your arm off to have that at the beginning of the week, so I am happy with that, I am happy with how I went through the week.

“I was in the lead every day apart from one day so that is all good and it bodes well for next year, but it was a tough day to finish on.”

Wearn has been beaten by Beckett this year and now he has got one back in a high-pressure event, it leaves Beckett looking at ways to get back on top of the Australian again.

He insists he will learn a lot from his difficult last day under pressure and is confident that if given the same opportunity again, he would not make the same mistakes twice.

“It is very hard to replicate that high pressure environment in training and you go and do it on days like that, it is hard to practise it," he added.

“I am a bit younger and a bit greener than most of the guys I am racing against so the experience will definitely be good for me in the long run, it is just sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth.

“I proved this week that the skill set I have is probably good enough to get a medal next year, it is just a question of which one and trying to get it right at the end of the week.

“The guy is the current defending Olympic champion, so he won the last Olympics, which I didn’t even qualify to go to.

“I wasn’t even there, and he won it quite convincingly, but this is the first time this year he has beaten me, so I guess it shows he has been on the back foot and now he is back at the front again - it just shows that the race is really on.

“I don’t think I am going to do anything that differently other than just keep grinding away and I am hoping that will be enough next year.”

Follow the British Sailing Team at the upcoming Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, on Instagram at @britishsailing