Thompson claims silver as Slingsby wins world Laser title

By Sportsbeat staff

AUSTRALIA'S Tom Slingsby claimed a third career Laser world title as Nick Thompson outshone British team-mate and Olympic champion Paul Goodison.

RELIEF: Nick Thompson was delighted with his silver medal on home waters at the conclusion of the Laser World Championship in Hayling Island (Richard Langdon/Skandia Team GBR)

Goodison finished a distant ninth after a regatta to forget but Thompson, the bronze medallist 12 months ago, kept Cypriot sailor Pavlos Kontides at bay in the double points medal race to secure an upgrade to silver.

"I'm really pleased.  We've had an absolutely cracking event," said Thompson.

"I don't think we've done many events where we've got  all the racing in and pretty much on time so it's been really good from that point of view and it's been a good challenge as well. 

"We've pretty much had every condition thrown at us so I'm really, really pleased to have come away with a silver."

There will be only one British place in the Laser fleet at the London 2012 Olympic regatta and Thompson believes he is more than capable of giving selectors some headaches.

"I think both Paul and I have proven that we're capable of medalling, so this evens things up a little bit more between us I guess, but Paul's a very, very, very good competitor," he added.

"I feel a bit bad for him this week - he really sailed well and just fell on the wrong side of some bad luck."