Hackel retains lead at Optimist Worlds

Riva del Garda, Italy (July 8, 2021) – A single race on the penultimate day of racing at the Optimist World Championship was held as a storm coming from the South, and the consequent instability of the wind, did not allow for the three initially scheduled for the day. The race was completed in a light northerly wind, an unprecedented condition for the participants who have so far completed all the races of the individual World Championship with Ora wind from the South.

Despite scoring a 25th in the difficult conditions, American Gil Hackel leads the ranking for the second day, but a 45th by Weka Bhanubandh (THA) dropped him a place to third after Brazilian Alex Di Francesco Kuhl, winner of today’s race, swapped places with Bhanubandh to move up to second, now five points off the lead.

A change also came in the girls’ ranking where the Italian Lisa Vucetti, tenth overall, takes control of the fleet, holding a 15 point margin over Marisa Alejandra Vicens (ESP) with Polish Ewa Lewandowska, who until now had steadily maintained the top of the standings, slips to third place, 18 points off the lead.

The Optimist World Championship will come to an end tomorrow with up to three races planned.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Current Results (Top 10 of 259; 8 races, 1 discard)

With a maximum of five athletes per nation, three consecutive days of qualifying on July 2-4 divided 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.