A native of South Freeport and his United States Paralympic sailing teammates got off to a solid start at the Rio games on Monday.
Hugh Freund, along with teammates Rick Doerr and Brad Kendell, sat in sixth place out of 14 countries after the first day of the Sonar sailing competition. The teams each competed in two races on Monday.
Freund, 28, had his right leg amputated below the knee because of complications from cancer nine years ago.
The U.S. contingent registered seven points in the first race while placing seventh in Monday’s first race. They finished in 1 hour, 49 seconds, which was 1:28 behind Australia, which was the runner-up in the second race behind New Zealand.
The Aussies are in first place overall with three points, followed by New Zealand, Greece and Germany, which scored nine points each. The Americans have 10 points.
In the second race, the U.S. team bounced back with a better performance and took third in 1:08:19. That was 35 seconds behind New Zealand’s victorious pace.
The U.S. team returns to action on Tuesday with the third and fourth of 11 scheduled races. The competition is scheduled to wrap up on Saturday.
