470 Men and Women Worlds - Santander medal race line-up confirmed

by 470 International Association Class on 20 Sep 2014 At the 470 Men and Women World Championships, three final series races in the 470 Men and two for the 470 Women confirmed the line-up for Saturday's double-points Medal Race and World Championship challengers, as well as 50% of the nations on the startline for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Racing took place on Murimar course close to Cabo Major in a shifty and variable 12-18 knots breeze.

Mat Belcher/Will Ryan made it four race wins in a row today, as they added victory in races 7 and 8, to yesterday’s wins in races 6 and 7. Great Britain’s Luke Patience/Elliott Willis sealed the race 9 win and now put themselves within reach of the bronze medal.

On the eve of his 32nd Birthday, Belcher sits on the verge of claiming his fifth successive 470 World Championship title. If he succeeds, it would mark an unprecedented achievement in the history of the 470 Class, and most likely in any Olympic Class.

'It was really shifty today and it was easy to find yourselves at the back,' explained Belcher. 'It wasn’t easy to get the first shift, but we were fighting pretty hard to try and come back. There was plenty of opportunity out there, so we were able to come back really well and sail a great day.'

Commenting on the potential for another World title tomorrow, Belcher continued, 'It is a pretty big deal. This year we have sailed really well and I am a firm believer that we deserve to be where we are. A lot can happen in a medal race and we have seen that before where we had an even bigger points gap, that at one stage we weren’t winning.

'Upsets happen, but we are sailing well and we are really happy with how we are communicating together and with how we are performing. We will go into tomorrow as another race and see how we go.'

The Australians go into Saturday’s double-points medal race with a 14.7 point advantage over Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic from Croatia, with Greece’s Panagotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis in third. Only the Croatians can wrestle gold from the Australians, but that would take a win for them and an improbable last place for the Australians.

The Croatians, Greeks and Great Britain’s Patience/Willis are all in the hunt for silver and bronze medals, so the stage is set for some thrilling racing on the grandstand Duna course on Saturday.

Fantela/Marenic won the 470 Worlds in 2009, before Belcher took control, and secured bronze in 2010, 2011 and 2012, dropping off the podium to finish 19th last year.

Several rising star 470 teams have forced the more experienced sailors to look over their shoulders throughout this Championship. Kazuto Doi/Kimihiki Imamura (JPN), Guillaume Pirouelle/Sipan Valentin (FRA) and the 2013/2014 470 Junior World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp (ESP) have all made it to the medal race, with the French and Spanish also earning the honour of securing their nation’s slots at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

A 10, 15, 3 scoreline pushed Doi/Imamura up into the top 10 at seventh. Twenty-two year old Doi has only spent a few months helming a 470, after the step up from the 420 Class, but no doubt has been helped by mentor Belcher, who was quick to congratulate the young Japanese sailors as they came ashore.

Similarly for Pirouelle/Sipan, who go into the medal race in eighth, it was less than two years ago in 2012 that they dominated the 420 fleet. In the same year they won the 420 Junior Europeans, and took silver at both the 420 Worlds and ISAF Youth Worlds. Today they achieved two firsts, secured France’s Olympic slot in Rio and secured their place in what will be their first ever senior fleet medal race.

'We are really happy. Before this Championship we couldn’t imagine this happening. It is really impressive,' said Pirouelle. 'It was very difficult today on the water and the wind shifted a lot, so we had to stay concentrated.'

Looking ahead to the medal race, Pirouelle smiled, 'Maybe we will be in a fight with Jordi to try and be the top junior team!'

Two months ago, Spain’s Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp didn’t manage to qualify to the gold fleet at the 470 European Championships. The pair did however dominate on the junior circuit, securing the 470 Junior Worlds title for the second year and following up with a win at the 470 Junior Europeans last month. Today to their amazement, they secured Spain’s Olympic qualification and their card to the Medal Race.

'This was our first World Championship in the senior fleet that we were 100% prepared for. The age of the sailors here and the level of their experience is very high and being in the top 10 is amazing. We would have been happy with a top 15 or top 20 here – but to be in the medal race is amazing,' grinned Xammar.

'For us the main goal of the season was the Junior Championships and we did that,' continued Herp. 'We didn’t come here with too much pressure, and we didn’t expect we would end up qualifying our country. It is a big surprise.'

The eyes of Spanish sailing fans will be on this young pair in the 470 Men medal race tomorrow, and also amongst the supporting crowd will be the President of Spain, Mariano Rajoy Brey.

Securing your nation’s slot to the Olympics is a significant achievement, securing it at this first opportunity is even more crucial. Only 26 nations will be on the 470 Men startline in Rio, and one of those slots is awarded to the host nation. So massive relief for Yannick Brauchli/Romuald Hausser who tied up Switzerland’s place in Rio, as the last nation place of the thirteen on offer this time round.

'At the moment it is unbelievable,' said Brauchli. 'We started so bad in this regatta and only just made gold fleet. To have a chance to now move forwards with Olympic qualification, I have no words for it.'

The thirteen nations securing places to Rio 2016 are (in country order): Australia, Austria, Croatia, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, USA.

The warning signal for the 470 Men Medal Race is scheduled at 1515 hours. Racing will take place on Duna Course under the eyes of what will be a spectator filled stadium crowd.

Saturday’s Medal Race will be a three-way battle for the 470 Women World Championship gold medal between series leaders Lara Vadlau/Jola Ogar (AUT), Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) and Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR).

Vadlau/Ogar attacked today’s two races with their usual spirit and burning desire to be in front. Sitting on a one point deficit behind the Kiwis going into the day, they advance to the double-points medal race with a one point advantage over them at the front of the leaderboard. As well as a medal, also in the bag is Austria’s ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Reverse back two years to the 2012 470 World Championships and Vadlau secured the last nation slot to the London 2012 Olympics. In Weymouth, Vadlau was the youngest helm and scored a race best result of 10th amongst the Olympic fleet. Since then, her success has been unwavering and regardless of the colour of the medal secured tomorrow, today marks a defining moment in Vadlau’s career.

'We are really happy with today,' grinned Vadlau. 'It was really not such an easy wind, it was really shifty and anything could have happened. We achieved our first target for this Worlds, to get the ticket.

'It feels great, but our main target is in Rio. Everything that comes now is a nice gift. With Jola together we can achieve everything when we sail good. When we both do our jobs, this is the outcome.'

2012 Olympic Gold medallists and defending World Champions, Aleh/Powrie have also guaranteed themselves a medal, regardless of where they finish in the Medal Race.

'We were expecting it, but you can never say never. It has been a long week, with a lot of extremes, so we are happy to get that box ticked,' said Powrie referring to securing New Zealand’s Olympic qualification place to Rio 2016.

Race wins today went to Brazil’s Renata Decnop/Isabel Swan and in a surprise end to their Championship, Great Britain’s Christina Bassadone/Eilidh McIntyre. Brought in as a last minute replacement, as Mcintyre’s usual helm Sophie Weguelin was injured, 2008 Olympian Bassadone stepped in to the 470 with just four hours of training, having last competed in a 470 four years ago.

Medal Race strategies will be intricately gone through tonight. Whilst the Austrians and Kiwis are guaranteed medals, behind them it is all open. Sitting 13 points behind the Kiwis, Great Britain’s Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark go into the Medal Race in third overall, and have a shot to upgrade to gold and silver, but will also be focused on holding on to bronze. Only two teams have a chance at knocking the British off the podium, with their closest rivals being world ranked number one pair Camille Lecointre/Helene Defrance of France who sit 10 points behind in fourth overall. An outside chance at bronze also goes to the USA’s Haegar/Provancha.

Dreams were made today for the ten nations who secured their place on the startline in the 470 Women event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition, with qualification places awarded to (in country order): Austria, China, France, Great Britain, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Slovenia, USA.

Alisa Kirilyuk/Liudmila Dmitrieva today put Russia’s 470 sailors back in the 2016 Olympics, after an absence in 2008 and 2012, finishing in 11th overall. 'This is really good for Russia and our coach is really happy,' said Kirilyuk. 'For the last eight years Russia didn’t have a place in the 470 Women and this is a really good start for the Olympics in Rio.'

The pair’s first major Championship was the 2001 470 Europeans, and reflecting on the ingredients which have added to today’s success, Kirilyuk said, 'We are working with a new coach, and we are training much harder now to get better results.'

Kirilyuk/Dmitrieva’s nation qualification performance was matched by their team mates in the 470 men event.

Ashore after racing, China’s Shasha Chen/Haiyan Gao were unaware they had secured Olympic qualification slot ten of ten. When told, they understandably couldn’t contain their delight and leapt in the air clapping, before exclaiming, 'We are just so excited!'

The warning signal for the 470 Women Medal Race is scheduled at 1415 hours on the feature Duna Course.

470 Men Overall

 

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race									Points
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Net
1	AUS	AUS 11	Mathew Belcher William Ryan	(6)	5	4.3 RDG	2	1	1	1	1	2	23.30	17.30
2	CRO	CRO 83	Sime Fantela Igor Marenic	2	8	3	1	9	2	5	2	(21)	53.00	32.00
3	GRE	GRE 1	Panagiotis Mantis Pavlos Kagialis	9	5	1	2	4	(15)	3	4	9	52.00	37.00
4	GBR	GBR 863	Luke Patience Elliot Willis	12	3	6	3	(17)	5	7	10	1	64.00	47.00
5	JPN	JPN 12	Tetsuya Matsunaga Yugo Yoshida	6	4	7	8	3	6	(15)	14	8	71.00	56.00
6	USA	USA 1713	Stuart Mcnay David Hughes	1	1	12	(23)	2	8	21	16	7	91.00	68.00
7	JPN	JPN 11	Kazuto Doi Kimihiko Imamura	13	12	5	1	20	(34)	10	15	3	113.00	79.00
8	FRA	FRA 76	Guillaume Pirouelle Sipan Valentin	13	2	6	14	5	7	29	11	(32)	119.00	87.00
9	RUS	RUS 5	Pavel Sozykin Denis Gribanov	10	15	8	11	(31)	3	13	5	23	119.00	88.00
10	ESP	ESP 44	Jordi Xammar Joan Herp	15	17	2	3	12	9	(26)	19	17	120.00	94.00
11	FRA	FRA 27	Sofian Bouvet Jeremie Mion	1	11	5.3 RDG	4	7	16	23	28	(29)	124.30	95.30
12	NZL	NZL 2	Paul Snow-Hansen Daniel Willcox	14	4	20	15	(23)	20	4	8	13	121.00	98.00
13	AUT	AUT 3	Matthias Schmid Florian Reichsteaedter	11	3	22	13	(24)	4	12	9	24	122.00	98.00
14	SUI	SUI 16	Yannick Brauchli Romuald Hausser	21	23	16	5	10	(35)	2	18	6	136.00	101.00
15	SWE	SWE 349	Anton Dahlberg Fredrik Bergström	8	9	8	4	11	33	16	13	(38) DSQ	140.00	102.00
16	RUS	RUS 2	Mikhail Sheremetyev Maxim Sheremetyev	22	9	9	12	14	(30)	6	20	14	136.00	106.00
17	GER	GER 10	Ferdinand Gerz Oliver Szymanski	10	(28)	9	6	15	24	20	17	11	140.00	112.00
18	GER	GER 15	Julian Autenrieth Philipp Autenrieth	3	26	21	11	16	(27)	9	22	5	140.00	113.00
19	ITA	ITA 29	Simon Sivitz Kosuta Jas Farneti	26	11	11	7	8	22	(30)	3	25	143.00	113.00
20	FIN	FIN 7	Joonas Lindgren Niklas Lindgren	5	14	11	18	(29)	14	18	24	10	143.00	114.00

 

470 Women Overall

 

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race										Points
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Net
1	AUT	AUT 431	Lara Vadlau Jolanta Ogar	2	(11)	1	5	1	5	1	11	4	2	43.00	32.00
2	NZL	NZL 75	Jo Aleh Polly Powrie	(7)	5	6	2	5	1	4	2	3	5	40.00	33.00
3	GBR	GBR 118	Hannah Mills Saskia Clark	11	2	1	3	11	9	(14)	3	2	4	60.00	46.00
4	FRA	FRA 9	Camille Lecointre Hélène Defrance	3	5	4	4	(24)	10	6	4	5	15	80.00	56.00
5	USA	USA 1712	Anne Haeger Briana Provancha	14	7	2	3	7	4	2	6	(28) DNF	14	87.00	59.00
6	NED	NED 6	Michelle Broekhuizen Marieke Jongens	4	13	3	1	9	7	9	(17)	10	6	79.00	62.00
7	SLO	SLO 64	Tina Mrak Veronika Macarol	4	11	14	1	4	(15)	12	5	6	8	80.00	65.00
8	GBR	GBR 321	Christina Bassadone Eilidh McIntyre	16	(19)	3	5	12	2	8	13	12	1	91.00	72.00
9	JPN	JPN 1	Ai Kondo Yoshida Miho Yoshioka	7	(25)	4	10	3	12	5	16	14	3	99.00	74.00
10	NED	NED 216	Afrodite Kyranakou Anneloes van Veen	1	10	5	(17)	14	8	15	1	13	7	91.00	74.00
11	RUS	RUS 97	Alisa Kirilyuk Liudmila Dmitrieva	18	6	19	4	6	3	3	(22)	7	12	100.00	78.00
12	BRA	BRA 18	Renata Decnop Isabel Swan	17	14	9	6	2	(28) DNF	13	10	1	9	109.00	81.00
13	BRA	BRA 177	Fernanda Oliveira Ana Luiza Barbachan	1	3	16	(28) UFD	8	6	7	15	8	17	109.00	81.00
14	GBR	GBR 812	Anna Burnet Flora Stewart	9	12	17	8	15	13	10	(19)	9	13	125.00	106.00
15	CHN	CHN 619	Shasha Chen Haiyan Gao	6	9	2	6	(25)	18	19	21	20	11	137.00	112.00
16	CHN	CHN 616	Xiaomei XU Ping Zhang	6	3	21	7	13	11	11	(25)	16	25	138.00	113.00
17	POL	POL 11	Agnieszka Skrzypulec Natalia Wojcik	15	18	13	2	16	16	(22)	8	21	10	141.00	119.00
18	CHN	CHN 1261	Huimin Feng Lizhu Huang	5	1	14	12	23	17	(25)	9	15	23	144.00	119.00
19	FRA	FRA 39	Maëlenn Lemaitre Aloïse Retornaz	2	1	8	(28) DSQ	10	24	20	23	11	21	148.00	120.00
20	ESP	ESP 133	Marina Gallego Fatima Reyes	10	17	6	13	20	21	17	14	18	(26)	162.00	136.00

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