European Youth Europa Class Championships gold for Sweden

by Elena Giolai on 5 Aug 2012 Anna Mikkelsen and Marcus Hoegland of Sweden are the European Youth Europa Class Champions, 2012.

The event closed today at Fraglia Vela Riva, Riva del Garda with the maximum number of races (10) being completed. After the scarse winds of the first day, Trentino Garda finally came up with southerly winds that have made this spot famous for sailing and windsurfing all over the world.

The last three days had good strong winds of 16 knots and it was a sight to see this extreme, northerly stretch of Lake Garda filled with a multitude of sailing boats. There were young children training on the Optimist, Europas competing in the European Youth, the Melges 24 involved in the World Championships, the 470 in training for the European Youth Championships in 9 days time right here at Fraglia Vela Riva and other children training on the Bic for the World Championships in 2013 ( as well as the World Optimist Championships).

In other words sailing boats large and small, in Dacron and monofilm to the more sophisticated Melges 24.....all with the wind in their sails on Trentino Garda, a sailing paradise for all ages.

At the European Youth Europa Class Championships, the Scandinavians dominated throughout. Spain was the only Mediterranean country to finish in the top ten.

It was a fairly smooth win for Anna Mikkelsen of Sweden who showed consistency throughout the event (a third and a fourth were discarded). Silver went to the other Swede Julia Carlsson who put up a good fight with 3 firsts and 3 seconds among her scores. Winning the last race and taking home the bronze medal was Ann-Line Lyngsoe of Denmark, who was in the lead, initially. but was less consistent than her adversaries.

Results here




Even with his ninth place in the last race, Marcus Hoeglander of Sweden won with a clear nine point advantage. The two other medal positions were decided in the last race as 3 competitors went into today's races with only a 1 point difference. Martinssen of Norway managed to hold on to second place and Tobias Hemdorff of Denmark took the bronze, pushing out Diedrichs of Sweden who slid into fourth place. The last race was a little unusual since the top positions were taken by athletes who weren't even at the top of the standings. First was Stepan Sivy of the Czech Republic (18th final), second was Campy of Spain (48th final) and third went to Rask of Denmark.

Results here

At Fraglia Vela Riva the races continue with the European Europa Class Championships Master category.

photos: Elena Giolai©Fraglia Vela Riva