Israel 470 Nationals serves as warm-up to 470 Worlds

by 2015worlds.470.org on 9 Oct 2015 Israel 470 Nationals – Mat Belcher/Will Ryan dominated the 17 nation 470 Men fleet from start to finish, wrapping up with a 21 point lead. In the 470 Women, a phenomenal show of form from Chile’s Nadja Horwitz/Sofia Middleton pushed them into the lead from day three.

Taking place from 1-4 October, at the same venue which will see racing kick off at the 470 Worlds in a week’s time, the Israel 470 Nationals were a good warm-up event. Although the fleets did not feature all the teams who will contest the 470 Worlds, it was certainly a useful benchmarker.

470 Men
Four wins from ten races, counting in a scoreline of results which was never worse than seventh, easily gave the Nationals win to reigning World Champions Mat Belcher/Will Ryan.

Spain’s Onan Barreiros/Juan Curbelo in second, with Israel’s Eyal Levin/Dan Froylich in third. A great result for the young Israeli team who out-performed many far more experienced teams.

With Israel aiming to secure one of the six Olympic Qualification places on offer at the 470 Worlds, this result will certainly boost their confidence.

470 Women
Their opening races did not reflect their wrap-up, as Chile’s Nadja Horwitz/Sofia Middleon stormed through to victory, off the back of a strong finish to the series. The pair won the closing race eight on Saturday, and continued their delivery with another win and second place in races nine and 10 on Sunday, claiming victory by six points over Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler.

Third to the day two series leaders and local team, Gil Cohen/Danielle Maman of Israel.

The 2015 470 Worlds Championships get underway at the same venue, with registration and equipment inspection from 11-12 October 2015, and racing commencing from Monday 12 October.

The priority for many teams at the 470 Worlds is to qualify their nation to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, with six places on offer for the 470 Men and three for the 470 Women. From the current entry list, there are teams from the following 17 nations on the hunt for one of the six places in the 470 Men: Angola, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine.

In the 470 women, the maths is 13 nations gunning for three nation places. In contention are teams from: Australia, Canada, Chile, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey.