Sailor Stephanie Norton made it a double celebration for Hong Kong with her third place at the 2021 Mussanah Open Championship in Oman – sealing her place at the Tokyo Olympics and strengthening sailing’s top-tier status at the Sports Institute. The 20-year-old Norton became the first women’s dinghy sailor from Hong Kong to reach the Olympics via a competitive route since stricter qualification rules were implemented after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Olympic qualification was also a key requirement for sailing to continue being part of the HKSI programme, with its status under threat because of poor results since 2014. There was heartbreak, though, for two Hong Kong teams after they finished second in their categories to miss out on Olympic qualification after some dominant performances on the water. “I’m very proud of Hong Kong’s performance at this competition,” said Tong Yui-shing, a 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist who recently stepped down as chief of the Hong Kong Sailing Federation and played a part in grooming talented youngsters such as Norton. Congratulations to Stephanie Norton for securing an Olympic quota in Laser Radial for HKG! After a strong performance, Stephanie came in third place in Laser Radial at the Mussanah Open! #Olympics #sailingnews #WorldSailing https://t.co/lQU1Vi7INJ — Hong Kong Sailing Federation (@Official_HKSF) April 8, 2021 “It’s an exciting time. Unfortunately, for the first four or so years since we became tier-A, we did not get the results so this was an important result for Stephanie. Basically our plan worked and we have two more years at the Sports Institute.” Norton finished third in the Laser Radial Class in Oman with 47 penalty points, 17 points behind India’s second-placed Nethra Kumanan (30 points), with champion Emma Savelon, of the Netherlands, finishing on 29. Kumanan and Norton qualified for the Olympics as the best two Asian sailors. Hong Kong’s Akira Sakai and Russel Aylsworth dominated their 49er Class competition, winning six out of their 15 races. But a cruel disqualification in race six – which they won but were judged to have fouled at the start – cost them 15 penalty points. India’s Ganapathy Chengappa and Varun Thakkar, with only one win in race eight, finished first with 60 points to qualify for Tokyo with the Hong Kong pair on 80. Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-choi also turned in a strong performance in the 49er FX Class, winning seven out of 15 races but they finished second by seven penalty points to China’s Chen Shasha and Ye Jin, who had six wins. The Tokyo Games 49er and 49er FX classes feature only one boat from each country, while Norton’s Laser Radial Class allows two entries from the same team. Other Hong Kong sailors to take part were Nancy Highfield, who finished seventh behind Norton, and Nick Bezy, who was seventh in the Laser STD Class. Olympic qualifier event – Mussanah Open Championship 2021 . . . https://t.co/mqbjrAcrUb via @sailweb pic.twitter.com/OltVE4meTw — SAIL WEB (@sailweb) March 31, 2021 The HKSF said in a social media post: “Congratulations to Stephanie Norton, who just made history by becoming the first female single handed dinghy sailor from Hong Kong to qualify for #olympics after securing third place in Laser Radial class at Mussanah Open! “Many thanks also to all our sailors – Akira Sakai and Russel Williams Aylsworth who earned silver medal in 49er Class, Molly Highfield and Sandy Wing Chi Choi who earned silver medal in 49er FX class, Laser Radial sailor Nancy Highfield and Laser Standard sailor Nick Bezy for their great effort and strong performances!!”