Final test for Skiff and Multihull teams

Three of the events to be held at the Paris 2024 Olympics participated together for the 2024 49er and 49erFX European Championship and the 2024 Nacra 17 World Championship on May 7-12 in La Grande Motte, France. While some of the elite competitors sat out to rest prior to the Games, victories for Italy, Belgium, and Uruguay remained notable.

Details: https://manage2sail.com/en-US/event/ee603c9d-d15c-4cee-996b-3ac1c801ad60#!/

Nacra 17 World Championship
Italian foiling stars Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti have won their fourth Nacra 17 world title. After winning their first world title in Denmark back in 2018, the reigning Olympic Champions have won three back to back Nacra 17 world titles: Canada 2022, the Netherlands 2023, and now France 2024. It bodes well for the Italians’ defense of the Olympic title in Marseille just over two months from now.

“Finally we reach Billy’s number,” smiled Tita holding four fingers aloft, referring to the four Nacra 17 world titles achieved by French team Billy Besson and Marie Riou almost a decade ago.

“Winning here is an important step to make sure we are prepared for the Games. We are pretty happy because we worked out a few things in the light stuff. We didn’t think we were going to have any light wind this week, but surprisingly, we had three days of the light and we performed pretty good.”

In the first two days of windy weather, Tita and Banti displayed their extra gear of speed in full-foiling conditions. That has always been their strong suit, but it will concern their opponents that now the Italians appear to have better wheels in the light too. There are no chinks in the armor. The developments and improvements just keep on coming.

“Things are always moving in the Nacra, you never stop,” said Tita. “That’s what makes the Nacra fun, in my opinion.”

Winning the Worlds is a major milestone in what could prove to be an extraordinary year for the determined Italian who hopes to win another Olympic gold and a few weeks later help Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli bring the America’s Cup to Italy for the first time in its 172-year history.

“It’s going to be super important, this double duty. I’m pretty sure on one side we have a good chance to win a medal. And on the other we have a very good chance to win the Cup with Luna Rossa.

“We have a fantastic boat, the design team did a super good job with our AC75,” explained Tita. “Now the boat is in our hands and it’s up to us, the sailors, to make the difference. I really think we have a very good chance this time.”

Silver went to John Gimson and Anna Burnet of Great Britain, and Italy’s other fast team Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei held on for the bronze.

The top North American team was Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg (USA) in 23rd.

49erFX Europeans Championship
Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts didn’t sail a great medal race but the Belgians had built up a sufficient buffer that it didn’t matter. Crossing the finish line in last place, it wasn’t long before Belgian celebrations started. Maenhaut and Geurts have won the first major title of their career at just the right time before the Olympic Games.

“We’re so happy and we want to thank everyone back home, especially our mothers,” said Maenhaut, “because it’s Mother’s Day!” Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon were very popular local winners of the silver medal for France, and Great Britain’s Freya Black and Saskia Tidey were delighted to take the bronze.

North America had two teams in the top ten with Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance (CAN) in 8th and Stephanie Roble/ Maggie Shea (USA) in 9th.

49er European Championship
Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz made a strong start to the medal race and led around the first mark. But the Uruguayans misjudged the downwind leg and fell back to seventh at the bottom of the course. The doubts were beginning to creep in, but the South Americans had built up a strong buffer over the previous days and crossed the finish line in seventh to take the gold medal.

It’s a major achievement for the duo, and believed to be the first time that Uruguay has ever taken the top step of the podium in any major international championship of an Olympic class.

“We made it hard for ourselves,” admitted Umpierre, who was so ecstatic that he jumped overboard and lost his expensive sunglasses in the celebrations. “That downwind was a bit of a nervous moment but we held on and we are so happy with the performance this week.” Diz added: “We celebrate, but then we go back to work, keep on training and keep on working every day for Marseille.”

A penalty spin at the final windward mark nearly cost James Peters and Fynn Sterritt (GBR) the European title, as Peters explained after crossing the finish line. “We were going for a gap between the mark and the Dutch and it quickly became obvious that the gap wasn’t as big as we thought, so we had to take the 360 turn.”

The British losing three places from the penalty meant the Swiss team of Sebastien Schneiter and Arno de Planta moved ahead of the British. However, a bit more place changing down the final run just moved back in favor of Peters and Sterritt.

For a few long minutes they couldn’t be sure, but eventually the British realized that they had indeed finished second overall behind Uruguay and had secured the European title with Switzerland finishing just three points behind.

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie from New Zealand won the medal race and finished in fourth overall, the USA’s Ian Barrows and Hans Henken finished fifth. Sixth overall but third-placed European team were the three-time World Champions from the Netherlands, Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken.

Details: https://manage2sail.com/en-US/event/ee603c9d-d15c-4cee-996b-3ac1c801ad60#!/

Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Venue: Marseille, France
Dates: July 28-August 9

Details:
• Paris website: https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-olympic-games-paris-2024/
• World Sailing microsite: https://paris2024.sailing.org/