The Aarhus 2018 Hempel 2018 Sailing World Championship Test Event is over. This location in Denmark, where the Olympic classes will sail the World Championship next year, proved to be a great venue with various sailing conditions for every sailor can express their different abilities. Here next year about 40% of Nations and athletes will conquer their spots for the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020.
The last day of the Test Event kicked off with sunny and windy conditions in the Bay of Aarhus, Denmark. Temperatures reached 19°C, and a south-westerly breeze of 11 - 15 knots, gusting 20, provided challenging conditions for competitors. After 5 of the Olympic Classes completed their Medal Races the previous day, it was the turn of the Men's and Women's 470s, the Finns, and the Lasers, both Standard and Radial, to fight for prizes.
The Laser Class has dominated by the Aussies and Kiwis all week. It was Australia's Matthew Wearn, who deservedly won gold on the final day.
Competition between the top three positions during the week was intense and unpredictable, as Wheaton alludes to, "The Laser Class is very competitive because we always end up with close points. I found myself, mostly, competing with Tom (Burton)." The remaingin of the podium was then a SSL Finalists affair: it was Burton, also from Australia, who took silver and Sam Meech (NZL) moved up from fourth to snatch bronze.
In the Laser Radial Class, Josefin Olsson (SWE) climbed the table throughout the week to gain gold. Erika Reineke (USA) took silver and Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) went home with bronze.
Turkish, Men's 470, sailors, Deniz Cinar and Ates Cinar, had the points advantage on the final Medal Race day and that lead was enough to take them over the line to win gold. Silver, went to Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) and leaving with the bronze were Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion, of France.
Sailors in the Women's 470 class have been swapping positions on the leaderboard all week but it was Switzerland's Linda Fahrni and Maja Siegenthaler who managed to finish strongly to win the gold. Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Irmina Mrózek Gliszczynska, from Poland, won silver and Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol (SLO) picked up bronze.
In the Finn Class, Nicholas Heiner (NED) held onto his final day lead to take gold. Heiner's rival throughout the week, Zsombor Berecz (HUN) SSL Finalist in 2016 crewing for Vasilij Žbogar (SLO), had to settle for silver. Finnish sailor, Tapio Nirkko, scored bronze.
Day five of the Test Event, Saturday August 12th, was a rather wet affair, in contrast to the sunshine and fair weather during the early part of the week. Sailors contended with a medium breeze of 9-12 knots, with gusts of 18.
Austrian 49er sailors, Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl, earned gold after a week of close competition the Australian pair of William Phillips and Sam Phillips. Bildstein said, "We managed to perform well throughout the week." Bildstein and Hussl fought hard with the Aussie brothers, who, themselves, were in first place yesterday. Hussl commented, "Since the second day of the Test Event, we have been in the top three positions with the Australians. We like the guys and it was great sailing with them."
The Phillip brothers had to settle for silver, and bronze went to David Gilmour and Joel Turner, also from Australia. Sime Fantela (CRO) - the golden boy from the 470 is taking on the 49er for Tokyo 2020 with his brother Mihovil - after leading in the first few days he finished 8th, after a good first event on a new boat.
Sailing on home waters, Jena Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen's dominance of the Women's Skiff, 49erFX, was rewarded with a gold medal, which they will hope to replicate at next year's World Championships. Ragna Agerup and Maia Agerup, from Norway, went from being third yesterday to finishing with silver. Bronze went to Stephanie Roble and Margaret Shea (USA).
The Dutch female RS:X Windsurfer, Lilian de Geus, has been in command for much of the week's competition and deservedly won the gold. Trailing by 33 points, Marta Maggetti (ITA) received silver. Flavia Tartaglini, also from Italy, picked up bronze.
In the Men's RS:X, Louis Giard (FRA) grabbed gold. Pawel Tarnowski (POL) held first position yesterday and equaled Girard's points, however, he couldn't catch the Frenchman on the final day so took second. Kiran Badloe (NED), who won gold at the World Cup Series Final in Santander in June, received bronze.
The Nacra 17, Mixed Multihull, Medal Races were canceled due to a possible safety issue. The final results from the fourth day of racing stand as the final results. Therefore, Lin Ea Cenholt and Christian Peter Lubeck (DEN) took gold. Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders, from New Zealand, won silver. Anette Viborg and Mathias Borreskov picked up bronze.
Sailors attending the 2018 Worlds can expect a challenging set of Race Courses, especially the Medal Race areas, close to the city of Aarhus.
The very successful and educational Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 Test Event draws to a close with sailors, Race Officials and the event organizers better prepared for what is set to be a fantastic World Championships next year.
SSL Press Officer since 2015