Blanck and Weir battle it out Europe Worlds

by Di Pearson on 14 Jul 2004 Two Victorian girls, Athens Olympic representative, Sarah Blanck and her replacement-in-waiting, Krystal Weir, are two of the three Australian girls are amongst the 104 strong fleet contesting the Europe Worlds, hosted by the Yacht Club Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy.

The authoritative leader in the early stages, with three wins from four races, is Germany’s talented Petra Niemann, ranked No. 2 in the World, with Sari Multala (FIN) ranked No. 3 in second and the World No. 1 and defending champion, Siren Sundby (NOR), in third. These are the three most likely to give Australia’s Olympic entrant, Sarah Blanck, the most trouble when it comes to the medal stakes in Athens.

Meanwhile, Blanck, who is currently ranked No. 8 in the World, is sitting in 17th place – a 22nd and an 18th her downfalls, which she countered with a win to be 22 points behind Niemann after a race drop. She is very good at making a comeback though, so can’t be discounted this early in the series.

Her hometown adversary and current Laser Radial World champion, Weir, is breathing down her neck in 21st place at only her second major regatta in the Europe class and undoubtedly her most challenging.

Weir’s best result so far is sixth place in Race four; such is her talent against this World class fleet. Her career in the class only started at Sail Melbourne in January this year and it appears that there is something in the Victorian water that makes champion Europe sailors – Melanie Dennison before her, then Sarah, who won the Europe Worlds in 2003.

This is Blanck’s final major regatta prior to the Olympic Games and her result here may well affect her results in Athens., but if her other lead-up regatta’s have anything to do with it, Blanck is definitely in the medal hunt, having also beaten every girl at this event in the past two years.

Australia’s third entry, Clare Hozack, is down in 66th place, having scored mid-fleet results in all four races.


Results after four races with one drop:

1 GER Niemann Petra, Germany 3,0

2 FIN Multala Sari, Finland 7,0

3 NOR Sundby Siren, Norway 9,0

17 AUS Blanck Sarah, Australia 25,0

21 AUS Weir Krystal, Australia 33,0

66 AUS Hozack Clare, Australia 88,0

The Europe Worlds, which conclude on July 17, continue today (GMT)

Full results: http://www.yachtclub-cagliari.com/europa/index.htm