Qualifying continues at Laser World Championship

Kingston, ON (July 3, 2015) – On Day 2 of the 2015 Laser Standard Men’s World Championship, 158 competitors representing 63 nations hit the water early this morning for two more races in light winds of 5-7 knots.

Yellow Flight began the day with 1 general recall, followed by a black flag start. Jesper Stalheim representing Sweden lead the pack to mark 1 and 2 in Race 3, with Jian Qaio representing China and Maxim Nikolaev representing the Russian Federation close behind. Stalheim SWE fell back to third, with Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini representing Great Britain and Christopher Barnard representing the United States fighting their way to the front, and placing 1st and 2nd respectively. Yellow Flights Race 4 had a black flag start, with 1 competitor over early and disqualified. The race was won by Balazs Tomai representing Hungary, followed by Jinfu Zhou representing China in 2nd, and Alex Mills Barton representing Great Britain in 3rd.

Blue Flight Race 3 had one general recall, then an all clear start. Juan Ignacio Maegli representing Guatemala (204113 in Photo Above) lead the fleet through the race and to the finish. He was followed by Australia’s Tom Burton and Daniel Mihelic representing Croatia. Mihelic carried his speed into the 4th race, and was able to capture and keep the lead to finish 1st. On the second downwind leg, Canadian and Kingston Native Robert Davis followed Mihelic, with Nick Thompson representing Great Britain, and Burton AUS close behind. Burton AUS was able to pass Thompson GBR and Davis CAN to place 2nd, with Thompson finishing 3rd. Maegli GUA was able to slip into 4th place, with Davis CAN in 5th.

In Red Flight’s Race 4, Rutger Van Schaardenburg representing the Netherlands battled his way to the front of the pack and held his lead to win the race. He was followed by Canadian, Lee Parkhill in 2nd and Pavlos Kontides representing Cyprus in 3rd. Race 4 was led by Philipp Buhl representing Germany, followed by Nicholas Heiner representing the Netherlands and Kacper Zieminski representing Poland. Parkhill CAN managed to fight his way to the front of the pack to finish 1st, with Zieminski POL in 2nd, and Giovanni Cooccoluto representing Italy in 3rd.

Juan Ignacio Maegli representing Guatemala now sits in first overall with four points with a result of (1,4) today and Philipp Buhl representing Germany sits in 2nd also with four points and a result of (1,5) today. Tom Burton representing Australia is in 3rd with eight points and finished second in both races today. Nick Thompson representing Great Britain is in 4th overall, and is only 2 points behind Burton. Kacper Zieminski representing Poland is in 5th, and is tied in point with Pavlos Kontides representing Cyprus who sits in 6th.

Qualifying is scheduled to continue through July 5, after which the fleet will be divided to begin the final series (July 6-8).

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