Last day of the 470 World Championships in Gdynia is a wrap! The competition was very tight and full of emotions, as battle for World Championship came to the last seconds of the race!
The conditions were hard, with a constantly changing direction of wind and an average of just 5-6 knots. The medal race was run three times, due to those complications. After the second try Race Committee decided to relocate the racing course which turned out to be the key to success.
Due to the hard conditions, the race was very tactical and brought out the best in all crews.
For majority of the race the British team of Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris were in the lead of the Championship, but that all changed on the last leg, putting them in third place overall. After a bad start, the Spanish team- Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Marta Cardona Alcántra managed to move up a few places, which granted them the World Champions title! The German team of Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort became the Vice World Champions, with a loss of just one point!
”It’s been a great event and so was the medal race. It was also a very close finish between us, the Germans and the British crew.
„Coming into the medal race from second place it was key for us to overtake as many crews as possible during the race. We had a very good final leg, which won us the World Championship. We are obviously very happy because today shows what this team is made for! We are now looking forward to see what the future holds.” – said Jordi Xammar Hernandez
„I think the most difficult thing to do today was to not stress when the first two races were abandoned. Luckily we managed to do that, we stayed focused and kept pushing and finally we did it! – added Marta Cardona Alcantara
”After this week we will definetely remember Gdynia for a long time. Winning the title like we did today was one of those moments that make you feel alive.” – further explained Jordi.
„Now we have a little bit of time to rest after this very physically challanging week.” - summed up Marta.
The battle lasted until the very last minutes of the race and sailors were challanged to the maxiumum. Gdynia really brought out the craftsmanship of sailing
The Italian team of Elena Berta and Giulio Calabro won the medal race, in second place came Frenchmen Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes and in third the British- Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris.
Results: https://tiny.pl/91cxjnfg
Photos: Szymon Sikora