Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship |25 July 2008

Competing in the Laser Radial class, Gertrude’s best result in the recent Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship was a 31st-place finish in the fifth of the 12-race series.

After her two worst finishes – DNC (did not compete) in race 9 and 38th place in race eight – were discarded, reigning Young Female Athlete of the Year Gertrude accumulated 428 points in the championship raced in Århus, Denmark.

Australian Gabrielle King won the gold medal with 28 points after six first-place finishes in 12 races. Spain’s Susana Romero finished second to win silver with 55 points and New Zealander Cushla Hume-Merry completed the medals podium with 83 points for the bronze medal.

A total of 40 sailors competed in the Laser Radial fleet.
At the Ninth All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, last year, Gertrude wrote a new chapter in Seychelles’ sports history by winning the country’s first ever gold medal at the quadrennial games, in the Laser 4.7 category.

Gertrude ran the show with her masterly sailing abilities for six first places, four second places, a fourth and a fifth in 12 races for a total of 16 points.

G. G.