Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/841483
maltatoday SUNDAY, 25 JUNE 2017 Sport 54 SAILING ATHLETICS New Zealand extend lead over U.S. in America's Cup final EMIRATES Team New Zealand turned up the heat on America's Cup holders Oracle Team USA on Saturday, taking a 4-0 lead in the first-to-seven final in the first race of the day. After five days with no racing, both crews have been working to improve the performance of their space-age foiling catamarans, with the pressure on the U.S. crew to match the superior speed shown by the Kiwis in their first races. But despite the preparations, things started badly for the U.S. team on Saturday as skipper Jimmy Spithill was a fraction of a second over the line at the start, picking up a penalty which left his crew chasing their opponents to the first mark. Although the New Zealanders got away, the defending cham- pions recovered well and fought their way back into the race, find- ing the speed which had evaded them in previous encounters. At one stage comeback specialist Spithill managed to get a lead over his rival Peter Burling, but he was out-duelled on Bermuda's Great Sound and gave the advantage when the Oracle boat infringed the Kiwi "cat" and incurred an- other penalty. The New Zealanders then streaked away and built a convinc- ing lead to the finish, flying into the line on their space-age 50-foot catamaran in front of a packed grandstand in the purpose-built America's Cup Village. Spithill, who was wearing a bandage on his wrist after injur- ing it during a hard week's train- ing, was upbeat about the team's chances of getting back into the competition. "It was a tough race, but the good news is the boat's going well and the boys are fighting the whole way and we'll come out and try and get a win," he said from onboard his catamaran. "I believe we're going to win this race, I think we're got the speed, we've just got to hit the button on the speed and we can get a win under our belt," Spithill added. IAAF aim to reallocate medals to athletes cheated by dopers WORLD athletics governing body the IAAF still hopes to reallocate medals to athletes cheated by dop- ers in special ceremonies this sum- mer but is working through a long backlog of appeals and new cases. It emerged on Wednesday that the organisers of the World Athlet- ics Championships in London this August can currently only plan for one such ceremony, as the British Olympic Association has received just one set of medals from the sev- eral outstanding cases involving upgrades for British athletes. The scale of the problem for the IAAF, International Olympic Com- mittee and other event organisers was highlighted later on Wednes- day when further sanctions were given to three Russians for newly- discovered historic offences. This should mean the British women's 4x400 metres relay teams at the 2009 and 2011 Worlds are in line for bronze medals, a develop- ment that would make Christine Ohuruogu the most decorated Brit- ish athlete at world championships with eight medals. It would also mean the women's 4x400m team have won a medal at every outdoor world champion- ship since 2005 and another case of delayed justice for Jenny Meadows, who ran in the heats in 2009 and was so often in her career beaten to medals by athletes later proven to be cheating. But Meadows, Ohuruogu and their team-mates may not receive those medals any time soon if the cases of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Kelly Sotherton and several others are a guide. That is because the authorities are struggling with the number of cases from the re-analysis of stored anti-doping samples, as well as legal challenges at the Court of Arbitra- tion for Sport. In a statement, an IAAF spokes- man said: "Everyone in athletics wants to see the right athletes with the right medal and we are working on a specific policy for the realloca- tion of medals. "In the meantime, we want to find the right moment to give athletes the recognition they missed out on and fans of the sport a chance to be part of that celebration wherever we can and if the athlete wants us to. "We are currently looking at the Anniversary Games, the Diamond League events and the World Championship in London this summer as opportunities to recog- nise and redistribute medals once official requests are received and all appeal processes and other judicial process have concluded." So far, only British athletes have enquired about ceremonies for re- allocated medals at London 2017, and, as previously mentioned, the only ceremony that can definitely go ahead is the award of bronze medals to the men's 4x400m relay team from the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Given the timescale, it appears unlikely there will be any reallo- cation ceremonies at the London Anniversary Games on July 9, but there are still eight more Diamond League events between now and the finale in Brussels on September 1, including the Birmingham Dia- mond League on August 20. Christine Ohuruogu set to pick up another bronze