Tokyo (AFP)
Jean-Baptiste Bernaz finished in style his fourth Games by winning the final regatta of the Tokyo Olympics but only finished sixth in the Laser series, gold going to the Australian Matt Wearn, Sunday on the lake of Enoshima.
The persevering Varois who, at 34, dreamed of getting on the podium for his fourth Olympic campaign (8th in Beijing, 10th in London and 5th in Rio) still had a tiny hope of winning bronze.
In Enoshima, under a blazing sun and within sight of the Sunday bathers having invaded the beach, "JB" had warned: "I will give everything".
And in fact, he let go of the horses, veering in the lead at all the buoys.
"I was even a virtual bronze medalist," he assured back on shore, "but I have no regrets, I just maybe sometimes lacked a little lucidity".
To hope for bronze, he had to win, and count on a misstep from those ahead of him, but only one condition was met.
Bernaz started his week perfectly by winning the first regatta last Sunday, before stringing up a series of ups and downs, notably with a 22nd place on Friday.
He finally finished 6th, 7 points from the podium.
The Australian Matt Wearn, assured of the title even before this final round, is ahead of the Croatian Tonci Stipanovic in silver and the Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard in bronze.
"I'm in good shape so I would have liked to continue the regatta, unfortunately it's a game that ends today," added Bernaz.
"I started the regatta well and I finished it well, it inevitably feeds some regrets, I think I was at the level", added the sailor from Sainte-Maxime (Var) who does not rule out coming back at the Olympics-2024 for a fifth campaign.
The Brazilian Robert Scheidt, one of the most beautiful achievements in Olympic sailing (two Laser titles in 1996 and 2004), back at 48, failed in his quest for a 6th medal, finishing 8th.
Among women, in Laser Radial, the title went to the Danish Anne-Marie Rindom, ahead of Josefin Olsson and the Dutch Marit Bouwmeester.
- The expected 470 -
After the two silver medals on Saturday for Charline Picon and Thomas Goyard in RS: X windsurfing, the main hopes for a third French medal still rest on the experienced shoulders of Camille Lecointre, the coxswain of the 470, in duet with Aloïse Retornaz, licensed in Les Sables d'Olonne.
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After eight rounds, they are in third place, within bow reach (10 pts) of the leading British boat and the Polish duo (9 pts).
There are two rounds to go on Monday before the medal race on Wednesday.
Lecointre won bronze in 2016 in Rio with another partner, Hélène Defrance.
In 470 men, Jérémie Mion and Kévin Peponnet are further.
In provisional 10th place, and therefore for the moment qualified for the final regatta, the recent European champions can still take advantage of the two regattas on Monday to come back up.
In the mixed Nacra 17 catamaran, Quentin Delapierre and Manon Audinet have certainly qualified for the final race scheduled for Tuesday, but with three seventh places on Sunday, they are too far away to compete for any metal.
Monday, place for the finals of 49er men and women, in the presence of the French Lili Sebesi and Albane Dubois, but who are out of the race for the podium.
The attraction will be Peter Burling: the New Zealander, titled in 2016 and since then double winner of the America's Cup, is in the lead with Blair Tuke and well on his way to the double.
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