Rio Olympic sailors Mat Belcher, Will Ryan winning run at world 470 championships ended

It could well rate as one of the most farcical world championship in sport in recent times and it has helped cost Australia major boasting rights ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Heavy weeds in the water has hampered sailing at the World 470. Picture: Andrea Mannini

IT could well rate as one of the most farcical world championship in sport in recent times and it has helped cost Australia major boasting rights ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Rio gold medal favourite Mat Belcher’s bid for a record seventh successive world crown in the 470 class has ended on a brown river so clogged with weed he and crewmate Will Ryan were forced to stop sailing approximately 20 times in every race — around 60 times a day.

At times the river was so congested with “islands of weed” some of Belcher’s rivals were actually “beached”, unable to move and forced to pull out of races during the week long event at San Isidro, Argentina.

But while Rio Olympic gold medal favourite Belcher’s world title is gone his good humour is still intact.

“I won’t ever complain about Rio again,” he said of the Olympic racetrack which continues to attract world headlines for its terrible pollution, smell and underwater obstacles including sofas and plastic bags and where some sailors maintain hey have seen bodies floating by in the past.

“It’s been a long week with a lot of challenges.

2016 470 World Championship. 20-27 February. San Isidro, Argentina. Picture: Matias Capizzano

“I’ve never encountered anything like this in all my years of sailing.

“We were [pulling the foil up (to clean them of weed) more than 20 times every race.

“In Rio we do it maybe once a day. Here it’s been 60 odd if we had three races.

“Each time you lose a lot of distance.’’

Heavy weeds in the water at the venue in Buenos Aires.

At this same venue in December, a third of the fleet fell sick from the polluted waters at the world 49er skiff championships.

To compound Belcher and Ryan’s misery they first thought they had finished outside the medals before learning they had secured bronze,

In an unusual turn of event, a French team claimed redress to later also be awarded a bronze medal.

“The are good things we can take away from this, including the way we rallied after the first day to go from 33rd to third,” said Belcher, former World Sailor of the Year, from Buenos Aires this morning

“But I won’t lie. We are disappointed.”

Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have lost their first world championships together.

Since joining forces after Belcher’s gold at the London Games with Mal Page, Ryan has won three world titles in the 470 class with Belcher.

A victory at the regatta at San Isidro would have meant Belcher would have matched former Tornado sailor Darren Bundock’s record as a winner of seven Olympic class world crowns.

But instead they were met with the most trying of conditions.

At the same venue where polluted waters saw a third of the fleet fall sick at the world 49er skiff championships in December, weed clogged the course almost from the start.

It was so bad at times, Belcher said, that some crews came to a complete stop when surrounded and could not move.

Croatian Sime Fantell and Igor Marenic will now go into the Rio Olympics as world champions