USA stays strong at Youth Sailing Worlds

Sanya, China (December 14, 2017) – The penultimate day of the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships continued the theme of offering a variable 6-12 knot easterly breeze that all the 374 sailors from 60 nations had to contend with. But the conditions have been enough to stay on schedule this week with the final day tomorrow only needing one race to complete the series for the nine events.

The fight for the Nations’ Trophy, an award which recognizes the top performing national team in the competition, remains a tight battle with Italy and USA separated only by a point, with Israel five points back in third. Great Britain and France are a few steps off the podium in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Helping the cause for USA are twin sisters Carmen and Emma Cowles (USA) who have continued their fine form in the Girl’s 420, picking up another pair of seconds. They are 12 points clear of Violette Dorange and Camille Orion (FRA), who finished third and first in both races today.

The Americans have a disqualification, which they currently discard, hanging over their heads so they will have to tread carefully on the final day to ensure there are no slip ups. However, they will feel confident as the French also have a discarded disqualification.

Arianna Passamonti and Giulia Fava (ITA) and Linoy Korn and Yael Steigman (ISR), who are separated by three points, will fight for the final podium spot on Friday.

Americans Thomas Rice and Trevor Bornarth also now step into the lead of the Boy’s 420. They
took a second and discard their tenth, which gives them a single point lead over Australia’s Otto Henry and Rome Featherstone, who went 1-11. Israel’s Ido Bilik and Noam Homri are four points off the leaders.

Charlotte Rose (USA) and Dolores Moreira Fraschini (URU) both had mixed days. Rose finished 25th in the first race of the day, which she discards, and followed up with a bullet. Fraschini came through in seventh first of all but then slipped to 15th, a score she discards, in the next.

Rose grabbed the lead and is two points ahead of the Uruguayan. Moreira Fraschini has the better discard so may look to cover Rose in the final race. No matter what happens, the pair will fly out of China with a Youth Worlds medal.

Four points split Luciana Cardozo (ARG), Daisy Collingridge (GBR) and Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) who are all fighting for the final podium spot.

In the Boy’s Laser Radial, Daniil Krutskikh (RUS) guaranteed himself a medal and has given himself every chance of that medal being gold after a race win and a 16th, which he discards.

Krutskikh is eight points clear of early leader Guido Gallinaro (ITA) and nine ahead of Maor Ben Hrosh (ISR).

Hrosh leaped up into bronze medal position after a fifth and a second and after racing commented, “It was a great day for me, my start was good and I also had a good second race, in the second upwind. It’s a very nice regatta. I think the conditions are great and the environment around me is good.”

Italy’s Margherita Porro and Sofia Leoni claimed the first title of the Worlds by sealing gold in the Girl’s 29er with two races to spare.

The Italians carried a 26-point advantage into today’s action and knew that it was possible for them to win gold. Sailing in another variable 6-12 knot easterly breeze, that all the 374 sailors from 60 nations had to contend with, the Italians picked up a seventh and third.

This was enough to give them an unassailable lead. The pressure was off in the final race and as they sailed through in tenth, the celebrations commenced. “We still can’t believe that we have won,” expressed Porro. “We feel incredible. It has been a fantastic week, in particular the first day because we gained three first places in all three races.

“We knew we won it after the second race today, this week and event has been so important for us.”

The focus tomorrow will be a fight for the final podium position with eight Girl’s 29er teams in the hunt for silver and bronze.

The quest for gold in the Boy’s 29er will go down to the final day and any one of three teams could win. Théo Revil and Gautier Guevel (FRA) moved into first overall, dislodging overnight leaders Rok Verderber and Klemen Semelbauer (SLO), following a 2-2-10.

Norway’s Mathias Berthet and Alexander Franks-Penty were the stand out team on the water recording a 4-5-1 scoreline and they also overtook the Slovenians who slipped to third after a fifth, sixth and discarded 24th.

The French lead on 62 points, followed by the Norwegians and Slovenians on 63 and 69 points.

There have been plenty of ups and downs in the Nacra 15 competition and after three races today, the Dalton siblings, Shannon and Jayden, have moved into the overall lead following a 2-2-5.

“We had a pretty good day,” said Shannon. “It was consistent and we gained some good scores. It was quite close racing, lots of different people at the top. The conditions were shifty and tough and it was good racing.”

The Australians are on 49-points, three points clear of Switzerland’s Max Wallenberg and Amanda Bjork-Anastassov and seven points ahead of Belgium’s Lucas Claeyssens and Anne Vandenberghe. Friday’s final race will decide the podium places.

It’s tight at the top in the Boy’s and Girl’s RS:X after three races with continuous swings in momentum.

Italy’s Giorgia Speciale, Great Britain’s Emma Wilson and China’s Ting Yu have all guaranteed themselves a medal in the Girl’s RS:X.

The trio occupied the top three spots in all the day’s races with each competitor grabbing a race win. Speciale and Wilson were locked on 16 points overnight but the Italians 3-2-1 scoreline was one place better than Wilson’s 1-3-3 which gives her a one point lead.

China’s Yu has always been in contention for gold but did her chances the world of good after a 2-1-2. She is four points off the lead.

Israel’s Yoav Cohen put three points between himself and China’s Hao Chen after two race wins and a fourth. Chen finished in third in the two races Cohen won, to fall behind but a win in the last race of the day kept him in contention and he is three points off the Israeli.

Sil Hoekstra (NED) and Fernando Gonzalez de la Madrid Trueba (ESP) will fight it out for the final podium position as Cohen and Chen have guaranteed themselves a medal.

Racing resumes at 11:00 local time tomorrow with a single race for every fleet.

The competition for the 374 sailors from 60 nations is planned for December 11 to 15.

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Day Four Results – North America (Top 2)
420 Boys (26): 1st Thomas Rice/ Trevor Bornarth (USA); 12th Patrick Wilson/ Arie Moffat (CAN)
420 Girls (25): 1st Carmen Cowles/ Emma Cowles (USA); 8th Georgia Lewin-LaFrance/ Madeline Gillis (CAN)
29er Boys (30): 6th Neil Marcellini/ Ian Brill (USA); 16th William Bonin/ Samuel Bonin (CAN)
29er Girls (20): 16th Berta Puig/ Charlotte Mack (USA)
Nacra 15 (18): 4th Mark Brunsvold/ Dylan Heinz (USA); 8th Helen Horangic/ Theodora Horangic (CAN)
Laser Radial Boys (51): 8th Joseph Hou (USA); 28th Ryan Anderson (CAN)
Laser Radial Girls (40): 1st Charlotte Rose (USA); 16th Clara Gravely (CAN)
RS:X Boys (26): 16th Cristobal Hagerman (MEX); 17th Steven Cramer (USA)
RS:X Girls (19): 5th Mariana Aguilar (MEX); 17th Dominique Stater (USA)

Teams: Canada – United States

About the Youth Worlds
The Youth Sailing World Championship was first held in Angelholm, Sweden in 1971 where 16 nations competed for the inaugural titles in the two-person dinghies, 420 and Flipper.

As the regatta evolved further classes were added to bring the best young sailing talent across the world together in one place and in 1984 the Mistral windsurfer was added to the list of events with Knut Budig (GER) taking the first gold medal in San Diego, California.

Open to sailors aged 19 and under the 47th version of the Youth Worlds heads to the Sanya, China from 9-16 December as the stars of the future are born once again.

Past notable winners include American’s Cup skippers, Chris Dickson (NZL), Russell Coutts (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL); Olympic medallists, Ben Ainslie (GBR), Robert Scheidt (BRA), Alessandra Sensini (ITA), Iain Percy (GBR) and Elise Rechichi (AUS); Volvo Ocean Race sailors like Stuart Bannatyne (NZL) and Richard Clarke (CAN). The most successful Youth World Champions are Great Britain’s Sally Cuthbert and Poland’s Zofia Klepacka having won four successive titles in the Laser II and Mistral respectively.

Italy is the current holder of the Nations Trophy, awarded annually to the top performing nation at the Youth Worlds. The Nations Trophy was first introduced in 1991 and in 1999 became the Volvo Trophy until 2010. France is the most successful nation through the history of the Championship, winning the Nations Trophy on a record eleven occasions and holding a record 76 medals: 28 gold, 30 silver and 18 bronze.

Source: World Sailing