ELLIE Aldridge has been given the perfect confidence-booster ahead of the Olympics after claiming a Formula Kite World Sailing Championships silver medal in Hyeres.

France’s Lauriane Nolot qualified top for the final before clinching gold by winning the very first race.

But after riding in a mix of conditions ahead of an Olympic summer in Marseille, Poole's Aldridge took the positives from claiming silver among a strong fleet of selected and non-selected Games riders.

With Paris 2024 on the horizon and with such high standards, the 27-year-old has already pinpointed details to fine-tune in the coming weeks.

She said: “It’s given me a lot of confidence going forwards but I just need to get a little bit faster so I can beat Lauriane next time.

“It’s hard to compete against when you know you’re a little bit slower so I’ve got some clear points to work on.

“After the Europeans, it was quite tricky but I felt a lot more confident in conditions where I wouldn’t normally feel that good and I managed to do well at the front of the fleet.

“It’s the last event that most people are really pushing for so it feels good to come away with silver.

“The racing ended up being really tight and if you haven’t got a speed advantage, you end up in the mix with everyone.

“I managed to stay towards the front of that which was really nice. It was a long week but I’m happy with the outcome.”

Aldridge matched her World Sailing Championship silver from last August and now officially heads into the Games ranked in the world’s top three.

Aldridge warmed up with silver at French Olympic week last month with just 20 points.

And following a busy preparation period, she will now afford herself a rest period before attempting to get the better of rival and home favourite Nolot.

She said: “When you have weeks like this where you have moments of looking really good and moments of closing the gap between myself and Lauriane, you can start to see it a little bit clearer.

“I do sometimes think I can do this and get the win over her. I think about it sometimes but I try not to dwell too much.

“I’ll recover and then train because Marseille is a unique venue in that you can get any wind direction or sea state.

“It’s quite a messy place to sail so spending a bit of time there is quite important and trying to learn the venue a little bit more and get faster.

 

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