St. Thomas’ Barrows earns bronze medal in men’s skiff at the Paris Olympics

PARIS — It took an extra day, but Ian Barrows can now claim Olympic bragging rights in his family.

The St. Thomas native earned the bronze medal in the men’s skiff class this morning after finishing fourth in the double-points medal race in Marseille, France. The 29-year-old Barrows and teammate Hans Henken – competing for the United States – rode a solid start and race performance, as well as some bad luck by several medal challengers, to their fourth top-five finish of the week in Marseille Harbor on France’s Mediterranean coast.

Spain’s Diego Botin and Florian Trittel won the medal race – the duo’s first race win of the week – to finish atop the standings and claim the gold medal with 70 points, 12 better than New Zealand’s Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (82), who earned the silver medal. Barrows and Henken finished with 88 points to take the bronze medal, finishing three points ahead of Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove (91), who were second in the standings entering the medal race. However, they struggled out of the gate Friday, and finished ninth in the medal race.