Korean sailor Ha Jee-min wins Race 7 in men's dinghy competition

Korea’s sole sailor Ha Jee-min won Race 7 of the men’s dinghy tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, finishing with a time of 38 minutes and 11 seconds, seven seconds ahead of Milivoj Dukic of Montenegro in second place.

Ha Jee-min of Korea in action in the men's dinghy competition in Marseille on Sunday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea’s sole sailor Ha Jee-min won Race 7 of the men’s dinghy tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, finishing with a time of 38 minutes and 11 seconds, seven seconds ahead of Milivoj Dukic of Montenegro in second place.

That combined with a 22nd-place finish in Race 8 puts Ha at No. 26 overall with two races left to go in Marseille on Monday before the final on Tuesday.

That points deficit makes it highly unlikely that Ha has any chance of breaking into the top 10 to qualify for the final medal race.

Sailing races take place in a fleet race format in which a group of boats compete at the same time. Boats earn points for their finishing position in each race, with the first boat winning one point and the second boat taking two points and so on. The lower the total score, the higher the placement for the boat. There are 10 ranking races before the final medal race.

Ha has competed for Korea at the last three Olympics, with a 13th-place finish in Tokyo as his best to date.

He will return to the water for races 9 and 10 on Monday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]