Defending champ leads Optimist Worlds

English Harbour, Antigua (July 10, 2019) – The final day of qualifying at the 2019 Optimist World Championship saw Italy’s Marco Gradoni, 15, take over the lead from Malta’s Richard Schultheis, 14, who had held first place during the first two days of qualifying. Trickier winds coming off the rocks did not phase Gradoni – two-time defending world champion – who won both races in his heat.

“Today was much trickier and was very patchy so I was not consistent, but I think I am still looking strong,” said second-placed Schultheis, posting a 12-3.

The first three days of racing had the sailors divided into four fleets for qualifying, and now based on these results the top 60 sailors will be placed in the gold fleet and the remainder in silver, bronze, and emerald categories.

The fleet racing now takes a pause as the Optimist Team Racing World Championship is held July 11-12. The fleet racing championship resumes on July 13-15 with scores from the qualifying round being carried forward to determine the final results.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Final Qualifying Results:

The 2019 Optimist World Championship has attracted 255 sailors aged 11 to 15 years from 65 nations, beating the previous record of 62 nations set at the 2017 Optimist Worlds in Thailand. Racing is scheduled on July 8-15.

Source: Gemma Handy