Tokyo Olympics: Kimberly Lim, Cecilia Low in best sailing result
Reporting from Tokyo
TOKYO — Sailors Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low have become the first Singaporeans to qualify for a medal race at the Olympics on Saturday (31 July).
The women's 49er FX duo, who are also the reigning Asian Games champions, amassed 97 points after 12 races at the Tokyo Olympics. They originally finished 10th out of 21 team to just make the cut for the medal race, but were later upgraded to ninth place after US sailors Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea were disqualified from a race and fell to 12th overall.
This is the best-ever result by Singaporeans in the sport of sailing at the Olympics. The duo are also the only Asian team to have qualified for the medal race, which will take place on Monday.
Lim and Low had struggled in their early races, finishing in the middle of the fleet. However, they began to pick up steam in the seventh and eighth races, where they finished third and second respectively.
They even won the 11th race on Saturday, and finished 13th in their 12th and final race to seal their entry into the medal race.
Low, 29, had put off starting her degree at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Asia to chase her sailing dream, while Lim, 24, also took a leave of absence from her accountancy degree course at the Singapore Management University to train for the Games.
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