Italy wins Optimist Team Racing Worlds

Riva del Garda, Italy (July 6, 2021) – After two days of racing and over one hundred races completed by 48 Nations, the Italian team made up of Quan Adriano Cardi, Alessandro Cirinei, Alex Demurtas, Lorenzo Ghirotti, and Lisa Vucetti won the Optimist Team Racing World title for the second time in a row. The Thai team, considered among the favorites on the eve of the Championship, was beaten for 2-0 in the final. Portugal won the Bronze medal by eliminating Team USA in the previous round.

“What a great satisfaction to put the seal on this World Championship event; the guys never gave up, even in the most clear moments of difficulty,” said Marcello Meringolo, coach of the Italian team. “Bringing the title back home after the victory in Antigua in 2019 it is an even greater satisfaction. There could not have been a better way to honor the memory of Norberto Foletti, who recently left us and would have been so proud of this victory.”

The final stage of the 2021 Optimist World Championship resumes tomorrow with the individual Worlds, where the Thai Weka Bhanuband controls the ranking after three days of qualification, followed by the Brazilian Alex Di Francesco Kuhl, and the Italian Alex Demurtas.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Team Italy celebrating their victory.

With a maximum of five athletes per nation, there are three consecutive days of qualifying on July 2-4 that divides the fleet into Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Emerald groups for the final stages, scheduled for July 7-9. On July 5-6, the participants competed within their nation for the Team World Championship.