Time for victory celebrations at 420 and 470 Junior European Champs

by 420 & 470 Junior European Championship on 14 Aug 2017 A fast and dramatic final day saw races won, medals claimed, dreams made and takeways of how to improve for the next Championship.

A stunning 25 knots of breeze greeted the 470 Men and Women fleets contesting the final race 11 at 0800 hours this morning, which unfolded in some of the best conditions of the Championship, as the breeze bounced off the cliffs in the north east corner of the lake.

By early afternoon the breeze had dropped to around 14 knots on the medal course area, which was located closer to Fraglia Vela Riva, for the pressurised 25 minute windward/leeward race featuring the top ten 470 Men and Women fleets in the podium chase.

Over on the 420 race track, two more races gave the last chance for teams to protect and consolidate positions, and those behind to make the final attack.

The six days of racing have been packed with you power, strength, skill, mental toughness, supreme fitness and strategy. All the teams know what it has taken to win, so no wonder the Prie Giving this evening guaranteed massive applause all round.

470 Women

Maria Bozi/Rafailina Klonaridou (GRE) kept their cool under the medal race pressure, turning their three point advantage into a gold medal with a third place medal race finish. Their victory is set to be a defining moment in their career, as they embark on a Tokyo 2020 Olympic campaign.

“I am feeling good, although can’t quite believe we have won the Championship,” said Bozi. “The whole time in the race we were looking where the other boats were and tried to be safe, and in the end we made it.'

“I don’t believe we have won,” added Klonaridou, “because the whole time it was really difficult for us. All the shifts and the weather was crazy, but finally we did it and we are so happy about it.”

The pair put their success down to being really patient and staying calm, as the first four days they were out of the medals. They knew they had to stay calm to hold any hope of moving up, and the gold medal upgrades their bronze medal from the 2016 Junior Worlds, and is a fitting end to their junior career. From 2018 they will be too old and only racing in the senior fleet.”

Marina Lefort/Lara Granier (FRA) completed a conservative race, to safely win silver and a bronze to Germany’s sisters Luise Wanser/Helena Wanser to mark a career best performance for them.

“I can’t believe it right now and am very happy,” said Helena. “We gave the race our best and we got it.”

Sweden’s Olivia Bergström/Lovisa Karlsson led the fleet to the first mark, but couldn’t hold on, with the medal race win eventually going to the defending 470 Junior European Champions Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA), who ended the Championship in fourth overall.

Overall Top 10

1. Maria BOZI/Rafailina KLONARIDOU (GRE 216) - 58 pts
2. Marina LEFORT/Lara GRANIER (FRA 7) - 66 pts
3. Luise WANSER/Helena WANSER (GER 69) - 69 pts
4. Benedetta DI SALLE/Alessandra DUBBINI (ITA 74) - 74 pts
5. Olivia BERGSTRÖM/Lovisa KARLSSON (SWE 34) - 75 pts
6. Beste KAYNAKCI/Simay ASLAN (TUR 99) - 82 pts
7. Maria Vittoria MARCHESINI/Cecilia FEDEL (ITA 54) - 87 pts
8. Tsuf ZAMET/Noa LASRY (ISR 5) - 88 pts
9. Yahel WALLACH/Shahar TIBI (ISR 12) - 90 pts
10. Francesca RUSSO CIRILLO/Alice LINUSSI (ITA 25) - 91 pts

470 Men

A scoring review this morning opened the door for second placed Hippolyte Machetti/Sidoine Dantes (FRA) to possibly squeeze through to the gold medal, but they still sat on an 18 point gap to series leaders Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro (ITA). The French would need to win and the Italians come last, practically unrealistic but theoretically possible. The French worked super hard around the track to finish the medal race in second, whilst the Italians suffered a broken trapeze wire and dropped back in the pack to finish in eighth place.

But, despite equipment failure, Ferrari/ Calabro had more than enough points to play with and picked up the gold medal to successfully defend their title. Silver to Machetti/Dantes.

“Winning the title on Lake Garda is very special,” grinned Ferrari. “We knew that it would be very difficult to repeat the 2016 title and we did a very difficult week on the crazy Lake Garda, because it hasn’t been typical.

“Now we want to focus on the Junior Worlds at the end of August.”

A safe performance from Israel’s Maor Abu/Yoav Rooz saw them cross the line in fourth place and wrap up the bronze medal.

“I feel very good,” said Abu. “It was a good Championship for me. I had a lot of fun and I am happy finally. The medal race was interesting with a lot of changing. At the same moment we had to look at the other boats, the wind, tactics.

“When we crossed the line, it was like ‘we did it’, and now we can go to the Junior Worlds with a medal, and we want another one!”

These three teams, and many others in the Junior Europeans line-up, will next meet at the 2017 470 Junior Worlds in Enoshima, Japan, 26 August-3 September, where you can bet each one will want to lay down the performance marker of a gold medal and put the others on notice that gold is their intention come the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

A final race this morning for the gold fleet boats not in the medal race, gave a win to Poland’s Macij Sapiejka/Adam Kreft to end their Championships in 16th overall.

The prize to the top placed boat in the silver fleet went to Russia’s Timofey Grigorin-Ryabov/Alexey Safonov.

Overall Top 10

1. Giacomo FERRARI/Giulio CALABRÒ (ITA 757) - 40 pts
2. Hippolyte MACHETTI/Sidoine DANTÈS (FRA 79) - 46 pts
3. Maor ABU/Yoav ROOZ (ISR 10) - 54 pts
4. Balázs GYAPJAS/Zsombor GYAPJAS (HUN 1) - 65 pts
5. Nitai HASSON/Tal HARARI (ISR 15) - 75 pts
6. Thomas PONTHIEU/Michal ELLIOTT (FRA 95) - 91 pts
7. Ben HAZELDINE/Ryan ORR (GBR 840) - 92 pts
8. Enric NOGUERA/Fernando DAVILA (ESP 73) - 93 pts
9. Martin WRIGLEY/James TAYLOR (GBR 55) - 95 pts
10. David CHARLES VILA/Alex CHARLES VILA (ESP 1) - 96 pts

420 Open

The outcome of the final day of racing for the one-hundred and nine teams in the 420 Open fleet was a foregone conclusion. Only the most massive of upsets was ever going to unseat series leaders since day one, Carlos Balaguer/Antoni Massanet (ESP). But the Spanish boys wanted to go out with a bang! They did just that, annihilating the competition and winning the 420 Junior European Championships with a race to spare, as well as racking up a phenomenal 37 point lead.

“It’s really, really cool and we are really, really happy,” said Balaguer. “We were really relaxed and made a third in the first race and in the second we were sailing because we like sailing and that’s all.”

Their third place finish in the penultimate race secured gold, and they followed up with a 54th, racing at the back of the gold fleet to savour the moment and also sail clear of those still fighting the silver and bronze podium battle.

Massanet added, “It has been a lot of effort and hours on the water training and this is the result of all the good work we have done. The difference in points is also really cool!”

Up next for the Spanish pair are the World Sailing Youth Championships in Sanya, China and then onto the 2017 420 Worlds in Fremantle, Australia.

Second overall to the USA’s Dylan Ascencios/Nick Chisari, and third to Edoardo Ferraro/Francesco Orlando (ITA).

“It’s kind of surreal and this is the best result we have ever had as a team,” said Chisari. “Right now my heart is beating 100 beats a minute. To come into an international fleet is really cool. It’s been really tricky and everyone close to us has been really good, so there has been a lot of strategy trying to keep them where they are and extend on the final day of racing.“

The Junior European Championship medals were presented to the top placed European teams, so gold to Balaguer/Massanet, silver to Ferraro/Orlando and bronze to Telis Athanasopoulos Yogo/Dimitris Tassios (GRE).

The top ladies team, in 12th overall, were Spain’s Patricia Reino/Carlota Hopkins, with silver and bronze respectively to Great Britain’s Hatty Morsley/Pippa Cropley (13th overall) and Isabel Davies/Gemma Keers (14th overall).

Overall Top 10

1. Carlos BALAGUER/Antoni MASSANET (ESP 55947) - 57 pts
2. Dylan ASCENCIOS/Nick CHISARI (USA 55917) - 94 pts
3. Edoardo FERRARO/Francesco ORLANDO (ITA 56278) - 117 pts
4. Telis ATHANASOPOULOS YOGO/Dimitris TASSIOS (GRE 56371) - 126 pts
5. Rasim YA?AR/At?l API (TUR 55850) - 138 pts
6. Daniel GÖTTLICH/Linus KLASEN (GER 55163) - 154 pts
7. Felix KAISER/Samuel STÖRR (GER 56086) - 156 pts
8. Francesco CRICHIUTTI/Francesco RIPANDELLI (ITA 54904) - 158 pts
9. Tal SHARITI SADE/Noam HOMRI (ISR 54121) - 158 pts
10. Gabriele ROMEO/Giulio TAMBURINI (ITA 56045) - 168 pts

420 Under 17

The running got extremely close in the under-17 fleet as the recently crowned 420 under-17 European Champions, Demetrio Sposato/Gabriele Centrone, saw their lead being eaten away by Greece’s Ariadni-Papaskevi Spanaki/Myrto Papadopoulou. The Greeks came within four points of the under-17 gold medal, but got the silver and as the top placed under-17 ladies team also picked up a gold. Third overall to Spain’s Martín Wizner/Pedro Ameneiro.

“Today was like a dream,” grinned a very happy Sposato. “We did a lot of effort and tried to have always under control the teams from Greece and Spain. In the first race we tried to keep under control the Greek team and meanwhile the team from Spain were ahead,” he explained in reference to the win from Spain in the penultimate race. “But, our focus was to have fun and not think about the final result.”

Top finishes to Melina Pappa/Maria Tsamopoulou (GRE) in seventh overall rewarded them with the under-17 ladies silver medal, and bronze to sisters Carlotta Scodnik/Camilla Scodnik (ITA) in ninth overall.

Overall Top 10

1. Demetrio SPOSATO/Gabriele CENTRONE (ITA 56124) - 71 pts
2. Ariadni-Papaskevi SPANAKI/Myrto PAPADOPOULOU (GRE 54484) - 75 pts
3. Martín WIZNER/Pedro AMENEIRO (ESP 56016) - 84 pts
4. Jakub GOLEBIOWSKI/Filip SZMIT (POL 55653) - 92 pts
5. Tommaso CILLI/Bruno MANTERO (ITA 56076) - 95 pts
6. Tommaso SALVETTA/Giovanni SANDRINI (ITA 55951) - 119 pts
7. Melina PAPPA/Maria TSAMOPOULOU (GRE 55405) - 123 pts
8. Max ANKER/Leyton BORCHERDING (USA 56128) - 136 pts
9. Carlotta SCODNIK/Camilla SCODNIK (ITA 56272) - 146 pts
10. Michelle LAHRKAMP/Gabriella DEL BELLO (USA 56079) - 150 pts