Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin hope to rebound after ‘shocker’

TWO Aussie sailors had a self-confessed ‘shocker’ , but are confident they’ll rebound in the gold medal race in Rio.

Jason Waterhouse of Australia and Lisa Darmanin of Australia compete in the Nacra 17 Mixed class.

COUSINS today, Olympic champions tomorrow. That’s the passionate pledge from Sydney’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin who will “fight” for their lives to fulfil their gold medal dream after letting slip a guaranteed podium finish.

In the first appearance of the Nacra 17 mixed multihull at an Olympic Games, the yin and yang pairing of Waterhouse and Darmanin will go for gold in the medal race on Guanabara Bay in Rio in the early hours of Wednesday morning (AEST).

The family duo are fourth going into the double-points medal round, 11-points behind overall leader’s Italy. But it should’ve been such a better story for the relatives.

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Leading the entire 20-boat Nacra 17 field by five-points going into the last race of their criteria, Waterhouse and Darmanin had a self-confessed “shocker’’, finishing third-last.

A shattered Darmanin was reduced to tears upon returning to the Marina de Gloria.

Australia's Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin.

The dose of ill-timed execution dropped them back to fourth on their overall standings, two-points away from Austria, who currently hold down the bronze medal position.

Argentina leads the overall standings on 65 going into the medal race, with Italy in second on 70 points.

But with double-points on offer in their final fling, Darmanin and Waterhouse have declared they’ll leave nothing behind for a shot at becoming the inaugural Olympic champions of the Nacra 17 mixed.

“We’ll fight, we’re fighters,’’ Waterhouse said.

“Obviously, we’re pretty disappointed, we would’ve liked to have gone into the medal round in a better position, but in saying that our goal was to go into the medal race with a chance to win a gold medal. And we’re in that position.

“We’re just battlers, we’ll grit our teeth and always fight hard.

“Throughout our sailing careers we’ve had a lot of adversity and we’ve always come back.

“We want to contribute to the Australian medal tally, especially a gold that’s what we’re here to do and we’ll go for it.’’

Their shot at glory comes after Tom Burton secured his podium finish in the men’s Laser over night.

Darmanin, the diligent organiser of the boat compared to Waterhouse, who happily confesses to having the “attention span of a goldfish,’’

Meanwhile, world No.5 Jake Lilley has received a second-chance after fearing his Olympic campaign was over. Racing in the Finn category, it seemed the Brisbane-born Lilley had missed the cut after finishing 11th in the final race.

However, a protest – not involving Lilley – saw him elevated to eighth placing, ensuring he can now chase a medal later tonight.

Originally published as Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin hope to rebound after ‘shocker’