The two-person dinghy crewed by Briana Provancha of San Diego is in third place entering Thursday’s rescheduled medal race in sailing’s women’s 470 class in the Summer Olympics.
The boat helmed by Annie Haeger of East Troy, Wisconsin has 49 points through 10 races, one fewer than than the fourth-place boat of Camille LeCointre and Helene DeFrance of France. Provancha and Haeger are one point behind the New Zealand boat of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark of Great Britain are assured of the gold medal with 28 points.
Points are assigned by the order of finish, with the lowest score winning. The worst finish is discounted. The points from today’s medal race count double.
Provancha and Haeger’s boat had two second-place finishes, were third once, fifth twice, seventh once, eighth twice and ninth once, with their 10th- place finish in the third race discounted.
The medal race was originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed due to lack of winds at the Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro.
The 27-year-old Provancha was introduced to sailing by a family friend when she was 8 years old. She joined the Southwestern Yacht Club when she was a student at Point Loma High School. She sailed to victory in four high school national sailing championships, finished second in the ISAF Youth World Championships in 2005 and first in 2007.
Provancha helped lead Boston College to two women’s national championships, with Haeger among her teammates. Provancha won a test event in Rio de Janeiro last August and was sixth in this year’s world championships.
—City News Service
