Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan sailed in the medal race of the women's 470 regatta at the Olympics Friday.
The teammates were the last remaining U.S. sailors still competing in the London Games and finished in 9th place in the overall standings after coming in 10th in the medal race. New Zealand came in first, Italy came in second and Germany came in third. The U.S. team was 3:33 behind the first place team.
Clark, who graduated from Connecticut College, and Lihan, a Floridian and Yale grad, held on to 9th place at the end of the preliminary races on Wednesday and only the top 10 boats advanced to the medal race.
The pair had to make up ground Wednesday after a 17th place finish in the second to last race of the preliminaries. In the final race, Clark and Lihan finished 9th, securing a 9th place spot in the overall standings.
"In the second, I feel like were were in much better control and it was another good comeback for us," Clark said, according to the U.S. Sailing Team website.
As a team, Clark and Lihan have only been together for 18 months, according to U.S. Sailing.
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"We are absolutely at the level where we need to be in terms of my crew ability," Lihan said. "We are at the size we need and the strength we need and the ability."
Despite advancing to the medal race, Clark and Lihan were too far back in the standings to win a medal.
"We're looking to keep fighting and enjoy every moment on the water racing in the Olympics," Clark told U.S. Sailing. "We are going to go out and look to win that medal race."
The London Games are the first Olympics in which the USA did not medal in sailing since the Berlin Games in 1936, according to a U.S. Sailing Team blog.
