Qualifying complete at Optimist Worlds

The Qualification Series is complete at the 2018 Optimist World Sailing Championships, taking place in Limissol, Cyprus. After the completion of 6 races on August 29 to 31, the 258 sailors from 58 Nations have now been sorted into the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald fleets.

On top of the leaderboard at this point in the championship is defending 2017 Optimist World Champion Marco Gradoni(ITA) with six 1st place finishes.

Marco has been competing neck and neck with Stephan Baker(USA), the 3-time Optimist North American Champion for the past 3 days. They were first and second going into the final qualifying day but Stephan’s 12th place finish in the first race of the day pushed him back to 3rd overall and tied in points with Panwa Boonnak (THA) who is lying in second.

These are the top Optimist Sailors in the world and each has qualified to be at the event. The top 5 boats are only 9 points apart, which indicates just how tight the racing is. There is no chance for error.

Only one point behind Baker in fourth place overall is Richard Schultheis (MLT) followed by Tommy Sitzmann (USA) in 5th.

The stage is now set for the final series on September 3-5 after 48 nations go head to head in the team racing part of the World Championship on September 1-2.

Four boat national teams vie for the World Team Racing Championship title with the defending World Team Racing Champions from USA as the team to beat.

Event details – Results – Facebook – Photos

Top Ten After Qualifying: