The final day of the RS:X European and Youth European championships dawned with a flat calm Gdansk Bay greeting the 220 sailors who were hoping to close out these championships… For those in the medal races, some titles had been awarded, some were almost guaranteed bar exceptional circumstances and some fleets hung finely balanced and getting any racing in today (or not) could make the championships for certain sailors.

As it was the weekend, the wind decided to have a little lie in and woke up around 1100. This led to a slight delay to the schedule before the first of the fleets were sent afloat in a gentle whisper which was forecast to drop later in the day. The race management team from Sopot Sailing Club have been excellent all week and they worked hard to make the most of the day’s opportunities.

The women were up first, and with the title already awarded to Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka, the battle was around the silver and bronze medals. Russia’s Stefania Elfutina started with a paper thin 1 point lead over Great Britain’s Emma Wilson with Maya Morris from Israel a further 7 points further back. Realistically these three sailors would be fighting for the two medals and one of the three would walk away empty handed.

In a brutally light 5 knots wind, Wai Yan Ngai from Hong Kong led the race from start to finish with a hoard of boards chasing her down. Elfutina rounded the first mark just behind Wilson but overhauled the young Brit down the first run and then proceeded to cover her for the second beat with Morris down in 6^th and out of the battle. Elfutina did enough to protect her lead over Wilson down the final run and reach to finish the medal race second and claim the silver medal with Wilson finishing just behind and protecting her first senior championship medal – Wilson is also the under 21 champion.

For Wilson, this was the perfect comeback from a heart-wrenching fourth place at the Worlds just two weeks ago. It is also a change of fortune for the Olympic bronze medalist from Rio who had a disappointing Worlds by her own standards with a 17^th overall – a silver medal here is a good end of season present.

Whilst Morris finished fourth overall, she can console herself with a silver medal in the under 21 competition with compatriot Noy Drihan finishing fifth overall and is third placed under 21 sailor. There are four under 21 sailors in the top ten in the women’s fleet, and whilst some of the regular sailors are missing this week, it does start to signal a generational change within the fleet.

Klepacka on this week’s racing, “This has been a really tough week for me, it’s been up and down and shifty winds and I’ve tried really hard to sail well and smart this week. I’m so happy to win and it’s also nice to see the younger sailors coming through and challenging. I’m taking some time off for the next month and I hope to walk to Everest base camp as a bit of fun.”

The men were up next and the scoring was a little more complicated as the sailors made their way to the race course area. Italy’s Mattia Camboni held an 18 point lead over Israel’s Yoav Omer and mathematically could only lose if Omer won and Camboni came last or was disqualified – Camboni had stated that he would try to cover the Israeli to secure his gold medal. In the end Camboni had a solid start and rounded the first mark in sixth place – the gold medal comfortably his. Down the first run Camboni made up four places to round the bottom gate in second place, which he would hold onto through to the finish. The race was won by Ofek Elimelech, and with Omer finishing in fourth, this was enough to secure silver for Omer, just ahead of fellow countryman Shahar Zubari who took the bronze. Israel would also take fourth thanks to Elimelech’s win in the medal race.

Local favouite Pawel Tarnowski finished the medal race in ninth place and finished tenth overall which will be a disappointment for the Pole. Tarnowski heads to Enoshima, Japan next to prepare himself on the Olympic waters ahead of the Sailing World Cup in September.

In the under 21 competition it was Omer that was best placed by the end of the event and took the win ahead of Yoav Cohen, also from Israel. Andy Brown from Great Britain would edge out Luca Di Tomassi from Italy to take bronze.

In the under 17 competition Linoy Geva from Israel took the win followed by Lola Sorin in silver and Elisa Jariel, both from France.

The youth men had the most frustrating day as just as the youth women were finishing their race the wind died away completely and after an hours delay the race committee sent the ten sailors back to shore. This fleet was the closest in competition and all of the sailors would be desperate to race to have the chance to improve – that is except Frenchman Yun Pouliquen who would take the Youth European title if the racing was abandoned for the day.

Eventually, almost at the time limit for the event, the wind did build enough to permit the final race of the event to take place. The race was another light air affair and drama throughout. Kafri from Israel started in third place and rounded the first mark in the silver medal position. However down the next run it would be another Israeli, Eyal Zror who powered through to take the win. Pouliquen did enough by finishing eighth to win the gold medal, and stayed ahead of Pianazza also from France who secured silver. Zror’s first place meant that Kafri dropped back down to third and had to settle for the bronze medal, just one agonizing point behind Pianazza.

In the under 17 event, Zror won the gold medal with Liam Segev from Israel in silver and France’s Mathis Ghio in bronze medal.

The RS:X Class association would like to thank Sopot Sailing Club, the Polish Yachting Association and their supporters and partners for hosting such a fantastic event run by a dedicated team of windsurf loving volunteers. The next event will be the Sailing World Cup in Enoshima where the men and women fleets will do battle on Olympic waters.

Text: Bas Edmonds / RS:X Class

Photos: Robert Hajduk / Shuttersail.com

Results: http://www.rsxclass.org/europeans2018/

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On a blisteringly hot day at the RS:X Europeans and Youth Europeans, being held in Sopot, Poland, the competition notched up a few degrees as the 220 competitors took to the water under fiery skies to position themselves against their rivals ahead of Saturdays medal races. As the temperature rose, the density in the air added to the pressure on the sailors’ shoulders to not drop a place, not miss a shift and not miss that critical gust that could give them the race win or drop down the fleet.

The men’s leader board had a reshuffle as Italy’s Mattia Camboni powered around the race course to win the first two races of the day before following this up with a well-fought 13^th placed in the final race. This puts Camboni in pole position going into the final day of fleet racing tomorrow ahead of Yoav Omer from Israel who is 7 points adrift of the Italian. Spaniard Sergi Escandell Mari had the best day out of the men with a 4, 6, 3 to climb up to seventh overall. Omer is also the leading under 21 sailor, ten points ahead of Yoav Cohen (Israel).

And it is Israel who have stealthily crept up the rankings today with Yoav Cohen in 5^th, Shahar Zubari in 6^th and Nimrod Mashiah in 9^th. Sitting just behind Mashiah is Byron Kokkalanis from Greece who had a difficult start to the week having only landed the day before racing started as his flight was delayed. Kokkalanis is the oldest competitor in the fleet and will be aiming to close the gap on those ahead of him and create the opportunity for a medal on Saturday.

Camboni on the racing, “Everything went fine today – with this wind it is easy to make a big mistake, especially in gold fleet. So I wetn to the water with the intention to take it easy and just sail well. I had two good races, with a little bit of luck, but good races. In the third race I missed some shifts and missed a gust at the top mark and rounded in 25 or maybe a bit further back. I had a good downwind and managed to finish 13^th but it was a hard race. I love sailing in Sopot, the club is special and we have had great conditions this week.”

The leading trio in the women’s fleet of Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (Poland), Stefania Elfutina (Russia) and Emma Wilson (Great Britain) all had a solid day to put some sunlight between themselves and fourth placed Maya Morris (Israel). Noceti-Klepacka continued where she left off yesterday and scored an impressive 1, 2, 4 to extend her point’s advantage to 13 from Elfutina. Wilson also had a reliable day scoring 2, 10, 1 to have a 19 point buffer from Morris – this pair are also battling for the under 21 title but Wilson will also have an eye on picking up her first senior championship medal this week.

Similar to the men, it is the Israeli ladies that have snuck three sailors into the top ten. With Morris leading, they are followed by Noy Drihan in 6^th and Katy Spychakov in 7^th – showing that Israel are one of the more dominant nations within windsurfing.

Wilson on her fortunes this week, “It was a gusty and shifty offshore breeze with anything from 5 – 15 knots. I try to do my own thing and not worry about anything or anyone else, I can’t control that. We have a strong training group in Bryony Shaw and Saskia Sills so that’s really helped me improve across all of the wind strengths. Tomorrow is the same, it’s just another day and I will sail the same and enjoy it and race my best.”

The youth women sees Giorgia Speciale from Italy remain top for the third day running having scored a 1, 1, 3 from today. Speciale has a very comfortable 21 point lead and is the only sailor who could sew up the title ahead of the medal races on Saturday such is the dominance of her sailing this week. Behind her is local sailor Lidia Sulikowska from Poland in second and Israel’s Linoy Geva in third who is also the leading under 17.

Speciale has had an impressive season, “Today I had three really good races, so it’s a good score. Today was really shifty and gusty so it was a little bit difficult. I have been in the class since 2015 but I was very young, but this year I am doing both RS:X and Techno Plus – I have won the Techno Plus Europeans, RS:X Youth Worlds, 3^rd in World Sailing Youth Worlds, 4^th in Techno Plus Worlds and I hope to do well here and at the Youth Olympic Games”. We wish her well!

The youth men have also had the same leader for the week in Fabien Pianazza from France who made an unusual error in being over the line in the second race today. That didn’t stop him from retaining the lead which is still a notable 18 points over arch-rival Nicolo Renna from Italy. Pianazza, like Speciale, has the option of being World and European Champion and is very close to achieving this.

Behind them is a log jam of French and Israeli sailors taking up all of the spots between 3^rd place and 12^th place with the party being ruined by the lone Greek sailor Leonidas Tsortanidis in 4^th place overall.

Three more races are scheduled for Friday 24^th, after which the top ten will progress through to the double points medal race on Saturday. Racing is scheduled to start at 1100 local time and can be followed online with live Twitter updates from the course areas.

Text: Bas Edmonds / RS:X Class

Photos: Robert Hajduk / Shuttersail.com

RESULTS will be available when race commences here – http://www.rsxclass.org/europeans2018/

WATCH the tracking online when racing commences here –

http://RSX.SailRacer.org

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Day 2 of the RS:X Europeans and Youth Europeans being held at Sopot, Poland had a mixed bag of tricks for the 220 competitors as they completed another 3 races on schedule. With a split into gold and silver fleets for the senior and youth men it was a critical day in securing the cut, whilst for the female sailors it was another ordinary day on the water – cut throat battles to get up the leaderboard and into the top ten positions.

With a start time of 1100 (local time) and with warm sunny days here in Sopot, it was always going to be a week where sea breezes would play some part in the racing. Like yesterday, the first races were held in light, marginal conditions whilst the last leg of the last races were full on planning and high speed planning. This switch in conditions throughout the racing would ensure that the sailors who could change gears quickest and make the most of the building breeze would capitalise the most.

The senior women, who are racing in a single fleet this week, saw local sailor Zofia Noceti-Klepacka rocket up into first position with a 3, 1, 1 scoreline, having discarded her opening days 27^th in the first race of the event. Noceti-Klepacka leapfrogged overnight leader Stefania Elfutina from Russia who drops down to second overall, Elfutina scoring a consistent 4, 4, 2. With no gold and silver fleets, it’s a simple race to be in the top ten come Saturday’s medal race, so mistakes aren’t punished as much but opportunities still exist.

Noy Drihan from Israel remains in third place overall and leads the under 21 fleet, just ahead of Great Britain’s Emma Wilson who is the second under 21 sailor and is in fourth overall. Wilson had the marginally better day than Drihan to close the gap to just two points behind the Israeli sailor. Another Israeli sailor, Noga Geller, took the only race win away from Noceti-Klepacka in the first race of the day to climb into 8^th overall.

Noceti-Klepacka at 32 is the second oldest sailor in the fleet and is enjoying her racing this week, “Today was very good. I am really happy as I sailing really fast and stable. The first race was very shifty and I was a little lucky as I went to the good side of the course. The wind picked up each hour and I am happy as I am fast in these conditions. I like sailing here in my home country, it is our home in Poland and it’s a cool event in Sopot. My kids are out of school and playing on the beach whilst I am racing which is really nice.”

In the men’s fleet the pressure was very much on, with the critical split of the fleet into two halves. If you are in the bottom (or wrong) half, there is no chance of getting into the medal race and no chance of the title – where if you are in the top half of the fleet, the dream lives on. Where Thomas Goyard had a dream start yesterday with three race wins, today was a little tougher for the Frenchman who scored 5, 9, 24 to drop down to 3 overall. Instead it was Israel’s Yoav Omer who leads the men’s fleet going into gold fleet racing tomorrow. Omer scored 11, 3, 1 which was enough to give him a three point lead over Poland’s Radoslaw Furmanski in second who is tied on points with Goyard.

The best scores of the day went to Yoav Cohen, again of Israel, who scored 3, 4, 1 to move up into 5^th place overall just behind Italian Mattia Camboni who lacked some of his consistency from yesterday to score 29, 1, 10 for the day. There are currently six different nations in the top ten of this competitive fleet.

Yoav Cohen on the racing, “Today was pretty good, I lost some stupid points at times but I had a good day. The first two races were shifty and railing conditions and in the last race planning. Normally I don’t like these conditions but it worked for me today as I won the race. I won here in the Technos in 2013 so it’s a lucky place here in Sopot for me, I am even staying in the same room so it’s a great feeling to be back.”

In the youth women, it was a slight navigational error that was the talk of the board park at the end of the days racing. In the second race of the day, eleven sailors went the wrong way and sailed the wrong course and retired, including the overnight top three sailors proving that even the best can makes mistakes at this level. Instead it was Alysia Gibson who made the best of the fleets misfortunes to win the race, and have a reliable day overall to move up to 2^nd overall.

Giorgia Speciale from Italy retains the lead despite her second race blip and scored a 2, RET, 1 to keep her yellow jersey going into Thursdays racing. Naama Gazit from Israel moves up into third place overall with Palma Cargo (Croatia) and Weronika Marciniak (Poland) slipping down into fourth and fifth respectively. Speciale has a bit of a buffer over Gibson at this point in the event and the chasing pack will have to work hard to have a chance to wrench the Youth European title away from Speciale.

The youth men also had a fleet split but this was of little interest to Frenchman Fabien Pianazza who had an identical scoreline to his first day taking a 2, 1, 1 and now discards a second place. This would be an impenetrable position in most events but countryman Yun Pouliquen is keeping the pressure up on Pianazza to sit just six points back – waiting and stalking Pianazza to pounce if he makes a mistake.

Nicolo Renna from Italy had a better day, dropping his 33^rd place from Tuesdays racing to score a 4, 1, 1 and move up into third overall on equal points with Pouliquen. Greek sailor Leonidas Tsortanidis moves up to fourth overall and is just two points further back from Renna.

Pianazza on todays racing, “I had a very good today – the same day as yesterday with a second place and two race wins. The first race was very light wind and very tricky. The second race was between 10-12 knots and the third race was 13-16 knots which are my favourite conditions. I have one more year in the youth fleet before moving up so I am enjoying the racing here.”

There are another three races scheduled on Thursday for all fleets – the forecast is for a hotter day which will certainly reflect the temperature of the condition as the regatta works its way towards the titles and medals.

Text: Bas Edmonds / RS:X Class

Photos: Robert Hajduk / Shuttersail.com

RESULTS will be available when race commences here – http://www.rsxclass.org/europeans2018/

WATCH the tracking online when racing commences here –

http://RSX.SailRacer.org

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The RS:X European and Youth European championships started today at a blistering pace in Sopot, Poland with all 220 competitors getting a full schedule of racing in shifty and gusty conditions that confronted the racers as they took to Gdansk Bay. With four different fleets on the water, the race committee and local volunteers rose to the challenge of the day, mastered the building breeze and delivered racing that was spot on to open a regatta.

“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.”

This is, with one exception, a saying that rings true across all of the different sets of results and demonstrates the difficult day on the water; water that looked so tempting from the sunny, sandy beach of Sopot but held many pitfalls and traps.

In the senior men, France’s Thomas Goyard had the only perfect day at the office with three first places in the yellow fleet and leads the chasing pack. Race wins in the men’s blue fleet went to three different winners with Shahar Zubari (Israel), Mattia Camboni (Italy) and Byron Kokkalanis (Greece) taking a win each. Only Camboni could show consistency around his win, scoring a 4, 1, 3 to sit in second place overall behind Goyard.

Polish sailor Radoslaw Furmanski is placed fourth overall and is the best from the home country after a difficult day for the Polish sailors who were hoping to do well at this event. Pawel Tarnowski struggled for consistency with a 4, 28, 5 and is 18^th overall whilst Piotr Myszka did not compete in the final race due to injury and is down in 48^th place. A bounce back day for Tarnowski and Myszka.

Goyard on his racing today, “A very nice day, light planning conditions and sometimes daggerboard. I was feeling good and was in tune with the shifts today. It would be great to reclaim the title I won in 2016 but it’s still just the first day so anything can happen.”

The women’s scoreboard would lead one to think that this is going to be a closely fought event with winners determined on the final race day. Russia’s Stefania Elfutina had the best day scoring a 2, 5, 6 to sit on top with Israel’s Noy Drihan two points further back in second. Marta Maggetti from Italy rounds out the top three.

It looked to be a case of local knowledge paying good for Karolina Lipinska from Sopot who took the opening race win, only for consistency to let her down too as she followed this up with a 11, 18 to sit in 7^th overall. Lipinska is the leading Polish sailor and is just ahead of a chasing duo of Zofia Noceti-Klepacka in 8^th and Kamila Smektala in 9^th.

In the youth boys fleet, reigning RS:X Youth World Champion France’s Fabien Pianazza, has clearly set his sights on taking the European crown too following a 2, 1, 1 series of results and is leading the fleet. Fellow countryman Yun Pouliquen is in second having also had a solid opening day of 3, 2, 2 to just lead Itai Kafri from Israel.

Italy’s Nicolo Renna had a difficult opening day scoring 33, 1, 5 to sit in 23^rd overall. Renna has been Pianazza’s main contender over the summer’s events and he will be disappointed with his opening race but has showed he has speed and will be hoping for a more stable day tomorrow to move up the rankings. Polish sailor Przeryslaw Szbkowski ended with a race win following a 13 and 16 and is in 12^th overall and top local sailor.

The youth girls also have the reigning RS:X Youth World champion leading the fleet in the form of Giorgia Speciale from Italy. Speciale scored an improving 8, 5, 2 to hold a narrow lead over Weronika Marciniak from Poland whose last race let her down, scoring 2, 1, 13. Palma Cargo from Croatia rounds out the podium as she took the opening race win but also had an up and down day lacking consistency.

Israel have the potential to dominate this fleet with four sailors in the top ten at the end of the first days racing. Maya Hadler sits in fouth and leads this group with Linoy Geva another notable Israeli sailor in 7^th overall but a clear leader in the under 17 fleet here.

Racing continues tomorrow with another three races for all four fleets scheduled. It will be make or break for both the men’s and boy’s fleets who will be racing for a place in the gold fleet which if they are not in, they will not be able to contend for any of the titles or medals.

Text: Bas Edmonds / RS:X Class Photos: Robert Hajduk / Shuttersail.com

RESULTS will be available when race commences here – http://www.rsxclass.org/europeans2018/

WATCH the tracking online when racing commences here –

http://RSX.SailRacer.org

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Sopot, Poland is the host of the RS:X Europeans and Youth European Championships, where over 220 sailors have gathered across four fleets representing nearly 20 different nations. Racing will take place on Gdansk Bay starting from Tuesday 21^st August, culminating in medal races on Saturday 25^th August where the champions will be decided and titles awarded.

Preparations have concluded with equipment inspection, registration and the practice race all being held today. The sailors were welcomed to the opening ceremony with thanks from Sopot Sailing Club, the Polish Yachting Association and the RS:X Class Association. The championships were officially opened by the President of the Polish Yachting Association, Tomasz Chamera.

With the RS:X World Championships only finishing a week ago, there are some tired bodies in the board park, but with the prospects of a fantastic weeks racing from the beach at Sopot, there are still lots of smiles around too. For the Youth fleet sailors, most have not raced since the RS:X Youth World Championships in Penmarch, France – whilst others will be looking to settle scores from the Youth World Sailing Championships held in Corpus Christi in July.

In the senior men’s fleet, whilst the current World champion takes a well-deserved rest, it opens the door for a new European champion to take over in Louis Giard’ absence as the reigning European champion is also resting this event. The top contenders will come from Pawel Tarnowski, racing at his home club here in Poland. Tarnowski was in medal position contention up until the medal race at the World championships and will have a hunger to avenge a poor final race and secure the European title at this event.

Italians Mattia Camboni and Daniele Benedetti will continue their battle which has gone on since 2017. Where Camboni has come out on top at the last two major events, Benedetti has been closing the gap and had provisionally held the lead during the qualification races last week – something that will fill him with confidence this week. Finally, Byron Kokkalanis from Greece and Poland’s Piotr Myszka, the veterans of the fleet, will also be looking to upset the younger sailors and show that their experience can count at these significant events.

In the senior women’s fleet, the door is open for Emma Wilson from Great Britain to claim her first senior championship title. Her fourth place showing at the World championships last week was exceptional and with the medallists from that event missing, Wilson will be amongst the favourites for the title. Another contender will be Zofia Noceti-Klepacka from Poland who won this event in 2017 and will be here to defend her title and the home nations interests.

Katy Spychakov from Israel, fourth at the Europeans in 2017, had a tough week at the World championships and will be looking to bounce back and have a strong week as will a number of other sailors who left Aarhus with some regrets or disappointment.

The Youth fleets have had a busy summer and there have been different winners in each of the year’s main events. In the boys fleet, Fabian Pianazza from France and Nicolo Renna from Italy have been exchanging blows, with Pianazza taking the RS:X Youth Worlds and Renna being the top European in the World Sailing Youth Championships. Both sailors are favourites for the title this week.

In the girls fleet, Islay Watson from Great Britain won the World Sailing Youth Championships where Giorgia Speciale from Italy won the RS:X Youth Worlds – both events were held in very different conditions and both Watson and Speciale will be hoping for their specialist conditions this week.

Poland’s Weronika Marciniak and Lidia Sulikowska will be the best representatives for the hosts in the girls and Alexsander Przychodzen will be the top polish boy sailor.

There are 12 races scheduled over the next four days for each fleet which can be followed online as all fleets will carry trackers.

RESULTS will be available when race commences here – http://www.rsxclass.org/europeans2018/

WATCH the tracking online when racing commences here – http://RSX.SailRacer.org

Medal Race day at the 2018 Hempel Sailing World Championships could have fizzled out under a grey cloud of drizzle but the battle for the medals was an intense affair that had the crowds on the edge of their seats. With the world championship titles already decided, it became a tight contest for silver and bronze medals in both races with fortunes changing with every tack and gybe.

With racing taking place on the stadium course which has been renowned for giving sailors a gusty course with a breeze which swings wildly around – a tactical nightmare especially if looking to cover opponents to protect medal positions – it was always going to be a tricky day for the ten board fleets for men and women.

The men were up first and a clear start led to a split first beat with Poland’s Tarnowski taking the right hand side of the course with his main medal rivals taking the left hand side. Starting the day in sixth place, it was Great Britain’s Kieran Holmes Martin who played the tactical shifts and rounded the top mark in second place behind Italy’s Mattia Camboni with a fingertip on the bronze medal. Holmes Martin extended on the run to lead around the gate with Camboni rounding the opposite gate close behind in second place.

Kiran Badloe was in fifth at this point and had the silver medal comfortably within his grasp. Louis Giard was further back in seventh and was in risk of losing out to Holmes Martin. On the next upwind it was Camboni again who led around the top mark followed by Holmes Martin but it was further back where the drama was taking place with Giard up to sixth and Badloe fifth, it was these two sailors that had bronze and silver before the final run to the finish.

Holmes Martin and Camboni were neck and neck coming into the last mark before the reach to the finish line. Camboni on the inside had right of way and Holmes Martin tried to go around the outside as the boards collided. A protest from Camboni was not awarded as the jury determined he had taken more room than he was entitled to and Holmes Martin pumped clear and finished in first place. Behind him, totally out of his control, Badloe came home in fifth place for silver and Giard in sixth place for bronze. Tarnowski who had started the day in bronze medal position, picked all of the wrong tactical positions and came home in tenth place and slipped down to fifth overall – a tough day out for the Pole.

Dorian van Rijsselberghe finished the day in third place in the race, the world title already his, and the smiles from the two Dutch sailors on the top two steps of the podium sends a message to the rest of the fleet – come and get us if you can!

The women were up next and the wind had dropped slightly to make it a fully pumping race. Emma Wilson from Great Britain, took the initiative and sailed a smart first beat, tacking on all of the different shifts to take a small lead at the top mark. Chasing hard behind her was Charline Picon from France, the Olympic champion showing her experience to overhaul Wilson on the run and lead around the bottom mark.

At this point Wilson was in medal contention, Chinese sailor Yunxiu Lu was down in eighth and undoing all of her hard work from earlier on in the week. However up the next beat, Lu managed to climb up into seventh whilst Hongmei Shi, also from China, threw Lu a lifeline by sliding past Wilson, dropping her down to third place and agonisingly out of the medals. Picon won the medal race to secure silver with Lu just doing enough to pip Wilson for the bronze medal.

Wilson’s fourth place is a fantastic result for the 19 year old who, despite her age, is competing in her fourth senior world championships. One to keep a very close eye on for the future.

World champion Lillian De Geus from the Netherlands sailed the course and finished in sixth positon and finished an emphatic week 30 points clear of Picon. The Dutch have dominated this world championship in a similar way that the Chinese did in 2017. The worlds in 2019 will be held in Torbole, Italy and teams will have to make up some ground to challenge for the podium.

What they said;

Louis Giard, France – 3^rd overall

Today was what I was expecting, offshore wind and unpredictable. The start was good but I missed the first gust and lost some places – I was focussed on Tarnowski and saw him make some mistakes and then needed to focus on the British guy and remember the points to him. Its my first time on the world podium, I remember the feelings for missing out before on a medal and this morning I said today I would not feel the same sadness again and win a medal today.

Kieran Martin Holmes – 4^th overall

Today was really tricky, but all I had to do was try and win and hope the others didn’t do so well, but Giard did just enough to get ahead of me. The tangle at the bottom mark was close, I was on the outside and the Italian on the inside and the jury saw I was in the right and didn’t give me a penalty. Next I’ve got some downtime for a while then off to Japan for a month for the World Cup.

Emma Wilson – 4^th overall

I gave it everything, I had a good start and a first beat. Racing against Charline, I needed her to have a bad race and me to have a good one to get bronze. At the end of the day I’m fourth in the world and I am super happy with that.

This week has also been the first opportunity for countries to qualify for Tokyo 2020, with 40% of the overall athlete quota being awarded to these world championships.

The RS:X Men featured 85 competitors from 33 nations with the top ten nations securing a berth at Tokyo 2020.

1. China
2. France
3. Great Britain
4. Greece
5. Israel
6. Italy
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Poland
10. SpainThe RS:X Women featured 62 competitors from 28 nations with the top eleven nations securing a berth at Tokyo 2020.

1. China
2. Denmark
3. Estonia
4. France
5. Great Britain
6. Israel
7. Italy
8. Netherlands
9. Poland
10. Russia
11. Spain

The RS:X sailors move on to their European Championships in Sopot, Poland starting on the 19^th August where the next opportunity to race takes place.

RESULTS will be available when race commences here – https://aarhus2018.sailing.org/results.

WATCH from the Hempel Sailing World Championships are available here – https://aarhus2018.sailing.org/watch

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Sailing will be shown live on World Sailing’s YouTube and Facebook Channels from 2-12 August. URLs and Embed codes of all live programming is available here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0yLg4wYxxpd3wUyEnHV3N36bMB3YCG55.

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Text: Bas Edmonds/RS:X Class Picture – ©JESUS RENEDO/SAILING ENERGY/AARHUS 2018, 11 August, 2018.