Eight years ago, Laser sailor Mark Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg was third in the U.S. Olympic trials. Four years ago, second. Nice views from the podium but not much else. Only the winner goes to the Olympics. Next year in Athens, Mendelblatt will go for the gold.
It ate at him, losing to John Myrdal of Hawaii in the 2000 Olympic trials at San Francisco.
"In the past, I think Mark relied on his natural talent a little too much and didn't properly prepare himself," said Ian Lineberger of St. Petersburg, president of the International Laser Class Association. "Mark was favored in San Francisco but John outtrained him. Mark focused on starting (training) earlier this time. That and sailing more international regattas paid off."
In each of 16 scheduled races in each class, the winner gets one point, second place two and so on. Lowest total wins. Mendelblatt and Myrdal each won three but Mendelblatt finished no higher than fifth (once); Myrdal had two fifths and a sixth, seventh and eighth. Mendelblatt, victory in hand, sat out Sunday's final two races in Houston.
"We've got a really good rivalry going and a good friendship," Mendelblatt said. "In a way I kind of wish we could both go."
Brad Funk of Largo finished third, Zach Railey of Clearwater fifth and Brett Davis of Largo seventh. Allison Jolly of St. Petersburg and crew Susie Reischmann of Palmento were fifth of seven teams in the women's 470 trials.
"This was only our third regatta together," Jolly said. "We've been practicing in Houston for just three weeks. Some of the others have been sailing three regattas a month for a long time. ... We had the speed but didn't handle the turns well."
In the men's Mistral trials at Jensen Beach, Ben Barger of St. Petersburg was a close second to Peter Wells of Newport Beach, Calif. Of 14 races, Wells won nine and Barger four.
"Basically," Barger said, "it was the two of us fighting and everyone else giving up in the middle."
