Drama on final day of IFDS World Championships in the Netherlands. 15 July 2010

The Delta Lloyd IFDS World Championships concluded in Medemblik on Wednesday 14 July with a record medal haul for Britain’s Paralympic sailors, including Silver for Steve Thomas.

Steve from Bridgend, who has also represented GB in Ice sledge hockey at the Winter Paralympic Games, was part of the Sonar GB trio with John Robertson and Hannah Stodel. They overcame a challenging start to their regatta, just two years away from the London 2012 Paralympic Games. They were in eighth place at the start of the Championship and moved up to fourth on Monday. Following a solid series of results in the final few days, they got back in contention for the World title, which came down to one agonising point on the last day.

Steve Thomas said afterwards:

“We are disappointed to lose the World Champs on a protest but happy overall with Silver. We sailed averagely for the first part of the week, but then kept our cool to turn 4th into 2nd at the end of the week!”

There was a protest between the Dutch and United States crews for an infringement during race nine. It went ultimately in favour of the Dutch, handing them the overall victory by one point.