Italy is tops at Youth Sailing Worlds

Eleven new champions were named at the 52nd Youth Sailing World Championships on December 11-15 in Armação dos Buzios, Brazil. The Nations’ Trophy, awarded to the top-scoring national team, was won by Italy followed by France and Great Britain. Among the 61 teams, USA and Canada finished 10th and 22nd respectively.

Leading for the USA was the Nacra 15 team of Cody Roe and Brooke Mertz which scored a silver, finishing two points behind gold medalists Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa of Spain and three points ahead of bronze medalists Marie Mazuay and Clément Guignard of Switzerland.

The USA team had five top-ten finishes across the 10 disciplines they participated in, opting not to send a representative in the Female Formula Kite event.

“I am super proud of Cody and myself for all of the hard work we put into this event and the months leading up to it,” said Mertz of Parkland, FL. “I am so thankful and honored to be given this opportunity to represent the US at my first Youth Worlds. We’re just getting started.” Added Row, “This is the start of something big.”

For Canada, Annie Balasubramanian and Sullivan Nakatsu recorded their nation’s best performances in more than a decade in the Female and Male ILCA 6 events, respectively finished in 11th and 12th place. Balasubramanian, who was 12th at last year’s competition, posted the best Canadian result in the history of the event since Isabella Bertold placed 4th in 2009.

“I had a rough start to my week with a penalty (BFD) in the first race, but aside from that, I feel confident that I raced well and gave it everything I could!” noted Balasubramanian.

“It is hard to keep the consistency in your scores when your first race is your drop, but I feel confident that I made as little mistakes as possible to stay consistent,” she continued. “We had all types of conditions, including two pretty windy days to finish things off. I am happy with how I sailed nonetheless.”

This was Nakatsu’s third appearance at the Worlds, having the finished in 16th and 17th positions in 2017 and 2019.

“I felt I sailed really well and I didn’t leave anything on the table after the last race,” said Nakatsu. “I had food poisoning on the fourth and fifth days, which really took a toll on my mental and physical strength. I gave it everything I had and emptied the tank. Overall, it was a really great event and I’m proud of how I represented Canada.”

Event information – Race details – Results