Team GB have finally landed a 13th gold medal at the Paris Olympics after Ellie Aldridge claimed victory in the women’s kitesurfing final. The sailing event was introduced at the Paris Games for the first time in Olympics history.
Aldridge clinched a silver medal at the Olympics test event last year. But she upgraded the colour to gold after dominating her rivals at the Marseille Marina on Thursday.
France’s Lauriane Nolot got her hands on the silver medal, while the Netherlands’ Annelous Lammerts clinched the bronze. Meanwhile, USA’s Daniela Moroz narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth.
Aldridge needed a total of three wins to take the gold medal but went into the final with only one victory to her name, while Nolot had two. But the Briton evened up the points by winning the first final race and stormed to her third win in the next one.
After the race had come to an end, BBC commentator Niall Myant explained: “Ellie Aldridge won that race – that was not gifted to her. She was tenacious at that first windward mark rounding.
“She is celebrating in style. All of this being played out just in front of the beach here in Marseille. Everybody up close to the action and what a performance she put on for everyone.”
And former sailing star Shirley Robertson, who won two Olympic gold medals, stated: “It was flawless, wasn’t it. What a brilliant execution.
“In 2018, the British Sailing Federation started a scheme entitled Kite to Gold and I bet they’re glad they did. They have produced an Olympic champion at the first time of asking.”
Aldridge celebrated her success by jumping high into the air on her kiteboard, with former track cyclist and five-time Olympic gold medallist Laura Kenny exclaiming: “I love the celebration. If we could have celebrated like that, that would have been class.”
Meanwhile, six-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy added: “It’s incredible. I was just looking at the total medal count – 50 medals so far. I don’t know how that stands in comparison to other Games, but it seems pretty good.”
Aldridge’s glory left Team GB fifth in the overall medal table on Thursday afternoon with 13 golds, 17 silvers and 20 bronzes. China led the way with 28 gold medals, while the USA were in second place with 27 gold medals.
Third-place Australia had 18 gold medals, with France ahead of Team GB after winning the same amount of golds but one more silver.
