Laser Radial Men’s World Championship 2014- Final day
by Jeff Martin on 27 Jul 2014
Laser Radial World Championship 2014, Polska 2014-07-21 Robert Hajduk
Laser Radial Men’s World Championship 2014 - Poland’s Jonasz Stelmaszyk secured the Laser Radial Men’s World Championship holding off a determined challenge from his nearest rival, Marcin Rudawski POL. After a clean start under a black flag Stelmaszyk held his nerve in the light 11 knot North East wind to lead the fleet round the first mark.
He was caught on the downwind by Alexander Finian AUS and they rounded the opposite marks of the gate together just in front of Karolis Janulionis LTU and Rudawski. On the next upwind he managed to regain a breathing space at the front which was enough to see him safely through the final downwind to take the winning gun from Janulionis and William de Smet BEL with Rudawski finishing sixth. This gave him a 22 point total against Rudawski’s 26 point with both being able to drop the final race result as a second discard.
At the start of the final race Stelmaszyk followed Rudawski round the start line knowing that if Rudawski won the next race he had to finish better than eighth to take the title. Rudawski tacked over to port soon after the start shadowed by Stelmaszyk. Stelmaszyk said 'I was getting nervous because at one point up the first windward leg Marcin was leading'.
At the first mark Stelmaszyk had passed Rudawski but they had both lost as a result of their own tacking duel as they rounded in sixth and eighth behind race leader Antonio Soto from Spain. Rudawski could not make any impression on Stelmaszyk or the other front runners on the next downwind and was suffering from stomach cramps so he decided to retire in the knowledge that he had secured second place overall.
On the next downwind Spain’s Kevin Cabrerra took six places to cross the finish line first ahead of Tristan Brown AUS and Soto.
Stelmaszyk finished ninth which he discarded.
Results