August 30, 2003 - Riva del Garda, Italy.

American skipper Ed Baird won today the ISAF Match Racing World Championship. With his crew composed by Thomas Burnham, John Ziskind and Andy Horton, Baird defeated by 3-1 Australian skipper James Spithill. The finals were sailed this afternoon with the typical southerly breeze of lake Garda known as "ora", blowing at 15-20 knots. Spithill won the first race, overtaking Baird in the last downwind run. In the second match Baird and Spithill arrived at the first windward mark together, but Baird was able to round ahead and keep the lead throughout the race. In match three the umpires inflicted a penalty with red flag to Spithill, who therefore had to complete the turn immediately. Baird thus gained his second win. In the fourth and crucial match, it was Baird`s turn to get a penalty in the pre-start. However, the American skipper was able to take the lead and slowly extend it throughout the race. Right on the finish, Baird completed the penalty turn and won his third race by a fraction, ahead of James Spithill. With his score of 3-1 Baird wins the ISAF Match Racing World Championship. At the end of the finals, Baird said: "Fantastic! What a great day. My crew worked really hard throughout the year to reach this level and help me, too, get to this point. This week everything we trained for worked really well. Today`s matches were really tough. In race one we were ahead but in the last run downwind we got too close in the spectator fleet and we ended up in their wind shadow. Then we won the two following matches and got a penalty in the last pre-start. However, we were able to round the first mark ahead and this enabled us to keep the lead and win the race. Today was just the kind of day when it is important to round the first mark in front, as you were then able to extend the lead. We will have a big party tonight and for the future I hope to have as much fun as I had this week!". The petit final was won by Karol Jablonski, who defeated 2-1 French skipper Mathieu Richard. Final standings Ed Baird, USA - World Champion James Spithill, Australia - Silver medal Karol Jablonski, Poland - Bronze medal Mathieu Richard, France - 4th Jesper Radich, Denmark - 5th Russell Coutts, New Zealand - 6th Bjorn Hansen, Sweden - 7th Jes Gram-Hansen, Denmark - 8th Paolo Cian, Italy - 9th Staffan Lindberg, Finland - 10th Ian Williams - 11th Mikael Lindqvist - 12th

Source: Fraglia della Vela (Riva del Garda)

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