Southampton graduate Ben Saxton (BSc Business Studies, 2011) is aiming to join an illustrious group of British sailors and bring home a medal from the Games in Rio.
Sailing in multi-hull Nacra 17 class of boat, which makes its Olympic debut this year, Ben and his sailing partner Nicola Groves are in good form after winning the World Cup Regatta in Weymouth in June – the last big competition before Rio. Ben and Nicola took the Gold medal amongst a fleet of 25 boats that featured nine of the ten best teams in the world.
That result, twinned with their convincing European and European Open titles won last October in Barcelona (which Ben describes as “awesome”) leave him in no doubt that a medal is the main objective.
“I believe if you go to the Olympics and do not win a medal then that is a missed opportunity. We will not just be going to compete; winning a Gold medal would feel awesome, that is the ultimate goal,” said Ben. “I do not know how I would react as I have never won one before but hopefully I will let you know!”
Click here to find out more about Ben and his challenge for Olympic glory.
Sailing update
The University’s sailing contingent have had mixed fortunes as the competition develops in Rio.
After four races in the Women’s Laser Radial Sailing event, Lily Xu was in gold medal position with Alison Young trailing in eighteenth.
London 2012 silver medallist Pavlos Kontides is looking competitive in the Men’s Laser competition, placing fifth overall after four races.
Finn world champion Giles Scott had a mixed opening day in Rio but recovered in time to place tenth after two races.
All of the sailing competitions involve 10 preliminary races with each competitor allowed to drop their worst result. The best 10 competitors at the end of the preliminaries then compete in a medal round to conclude the event.