Medals flow at Aarhus Test Event

Aarhus, Denmark (August 12, 2017) – Medals slipped away for some and were snatched up by others, on the first of two Medal Race Days at the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 Test Event.

Racing concluded in the Men’s and Women’s RS:X Windsurfers and the Men’s and Women’s Skiffs, 49er and 49erFX.

Day five of the Test Event 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.”

Hussl added, “We had ups and downs but that’s the reason we attended the Test Event, so we know what to work on before the World Championships next year.”

Bildstein and Hussl fought hard with the Aussie brothers, who, themselves, were in first place yesterday. Bildstein described the contest between them, “It was a tight match and we managed to get ahead of them with three points.”

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. For the Americans Christopher Rast and Trevor Burd, their 7-8-6 dropped them from third to fourth with Judge Ryan/ Hans Henken moving up from 10th to 9th overall.

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 equipment 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.

The Lasers, Laser Radials, Finns and Women’s and Men’s 470s have their Medal Races tomorrow. Here are how things stand in those remaining classes, overnight:

470 Women
Linda Fahrni and Maja Siegenthaler (SUI) – 19 points
Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Irmina Mrózek Gliszczynska (POL) – 21 points
Nadine Boehm and Ann-Christin Goliaß (GER) – 27 points

470 Men
Deniz Cinar and Ates Cinar (TUR) – 22 points
David Bargehr and Lukas Mähr (AUT) – 28 points
Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) – 32 points

Finn
Nicholas Heiner (NED) – 40 points
Zsombor Berecz (HUN) – 47 points
Piotr Kula (POL) – 60 points

Laser
Matthew Wearn – 46 points
Tom Burton – 59 points
Thomas Saunders – 62 points

Laser Radial
Josefin Olsson – 32 points
Erika Reineke – 34 points
Tatiana Drozdovskaya – 43 points

Racing for 370 sailors from 54 nations in all 10 Olympic Classes extends from Tuesday August 8 and runs through to Sunday August 13 with the top ten advancing to the Medal Races on the Saturday and Sunday.

Event details – Results – Facebook

About the World Championships
The Sailing World Championships is held every four years and are the largest gathering of Olympic class sailors. The Sailing World Championships are the principal qualification event for the Olympic Games.

Aarhus 2018 is the first and most significant qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with 40% of the nation quotas places available across the ten Olympic events. Men’s and Women’s Kiteboarding will also be held across the duration of the 2018 World Championships.

Santander, Spain, hosted the 2014 World Championships in September 2014. The 2014 Worlds served as the first Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition qualifier with 50% of Rio 2016 places awarded.

Source: World Sailing