Teams step up and claim the coveted titles on final day of 420 Worlds

by 420 Sailing on 24 Jul 2016 Medal deciding day on Saturday 23 July, and the breeze ramped up in a final test for teams, just to make sure the medallists rising to the front were truly challenged across all conditions.

The transition from the light winds that dominated earlier in the week to big breeze and waves, turned up the heat and pitched new faces to the front.

There was no shortage of talent across the fleets, with a multitude of teams ready to step up and claim the coveted World titles. The 2016 420 Worlds have been a benchmark in participation, featuring 524 sailors representing 24 nations across the three World Championships: Open (110 teams), Ladies (84 teams) and U17 (68 teams).

These young teams want to win, that is how they are wired. But, you perform best when you are enjoying yourself, and whether on the water or ashore the camaraderie between teams and nations was evident.

Reflecting the Class’ appeal to youth, the youngest helm was aged just 12 years old, going through to the oldest at 23. A similar age range was reflected in the crews, going from 13 to 21 years, with the exception of one 28 year old crew – demonstrating you’re never too young or too old to sail a 420.

420 Ladies
Proving they are athletes for all conditions, Francesca Russo Cirillo/Alice Linussi (ITA) faced the kicked up sea and big breeze with a super consistent 4,3 scorecard to claim gold. Russo Cirillo won the 2014 420 Ladies World Championships as crew to her then helm, Carlotta Omari, so her eyes were on a second World Championship prize from day one.

The Italians went into the final day with a seven point deficit to Spain’s María Bover Guerrero/Clara Llabrés, so had no margin for error.

Russo Cirillo/Linussi took control of the race track, showing a dazzling display of precision, talent and stamina. Bover Guerrero/Llabrés struggled, notching up their worst daily points score of the series, a 15,18. With their 18th result discarded however, the Spanish could still safely claim silver, with bronze going to Maria Vittoria Marchesini/Cecilia Fedel (ITA), who held onto the third place on the leader board they had going into the day.

Race wins to Carlotta Omari/Matilda Di Stefano (ITA) in race 11 saw the pair finish in 10th overall, with Fenella Bennett/Emily Gent (GBR) seizing the race 12 win and climbing to finish 19th overall.

420 Ladies – Final Top 10 Overall after 12 Races
1. Francesca Russo Cirillo/Alice Linussi (ITA 55476) - 43 pts
2. María Bover Guerrero/Clara Llabrés (ESP 54697) - 54 pts
3. Maria Vittoria Marchesini/Cecilia Fedel (ITA 55641) - 56 pts
4. Maria Caba/Pilar Caba (ESP 55687) - 61 pts
5. Julia Szmit/Hanna Dzik (POL 56008) - 87 pts
6. Souzana Bakatsia/Nikoletta Papageorgiou (GRE 55002) - 100 pts
7. Sofie Schöne/Line Johanna Thielemann (GER 56064) - 101 pts
8. Lala Akrich/Catalina Homar (ESP 53848) - 111 pts
9. Isabel Davies/Gemma Keers (GBR 55517) - 117 pts
10. Carlotta Omari/Matilda Di Stefano (ITA 54800) - 127 pts

420 Ladies Silver Fleet - Top three after 12 Races
1. Clara Videla/Sofia Videla (ARG)
2. Nia Jerwood/Monique De Vries (AUS)
3. Hannah Hagen/Sarah Eisenlohr (GER)

420 Open
Portugal’s brothers, Diogo Costa/Pedro Costa edged their rivals aside, to sail through the pack and claim the World Championship title in the final race. Two strong results of 3,7 converted what was a 10 point deficit behind the leading team going into the day, to an 11 point advantage at the end.

Saturday’s big breeze brought about a reversal of leader board fortunes for many. Of the three teams in podium places at the start of the day, only the Portuguese held onto a medal position.

Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin (USA) executed a superb performance when it mattered most, eating up the race track to score 2,2 and claim the silver medal. Bronze to Greece’s Vasilios Gourgiotis/Orestis Batsis, who converted their leader board seventh going into the day to a third at the end, from results of 12,3.

Predicting such a reversal was not on the cards for the series leaders going into the final two races, with France’s Theo Carayon/Erwan Lucas, on strong form. Disaster for them though, as scores of 43,27 plummeted them to sixth overall. Still an impressive result, but not quite what they were anticipating.

Star performance went to Australia’s Tom Klemens/James Grogan who knocked out back to back race wins in the final day. As one of the older and heavier teams in the fleet, the lighter breeze did them no favours. But when the wind came out to play, the Aussies motored through the fleet to taste race victory, and finished 31st overall.

420 Open – Final Top 10 after 12 Races
1. Diogo Costa/Pedro Costa (POR 55289) - 91 pts
2. Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin (USA 55162) - 102 pts
3. Vasilios Gourgiotis/Orestis Batsis (GRE 54484) - 113 pts
4. Enrique Luján/Pablo Luján (ESP 56077) - 126 pts
5. Fausto Cruz Peralta/Martin Arroyo Verdi (ARG 54842) - 134 pts
6. Theo Carayon/Erwan Lucas (FRA 54834) - 141 pts
7. Luis Hernández/Luis Bugallo (ESP 56103) - 142 pts
8. Leonardo Lombardi/Rodrigo Grippi Lacerda Ribeiro Da Luz (BRA 52852) - 146 pts
9. Carlos Balaguer/Ignacio Balaguer (ESP 55947) - 148 pts
10. Marc Lladó/Antoni Massanet (ESP 55249) - 149 pts

420 Open Silver Fleet - Top three after 12 Races
1. Alexandre Demange/Aurelien Barthelemy (FRA)
2. Jan Borbet/Lea Borbet (GER)
3. James Clemetson/William Birch-Tomlinson (GBR)

420 U17
The U17 gold medals go home with Greece’s Telis Athanasopoulos Yogo/Dimitris Tassios, from super consistent performance, including three race wins in the nine race series. After discarding their 14th place from race three, the duo only held a scorecard of top 10 results.

Next week, at the 2016 420 Junior Europeans, the pair will try to complete their 2016 racing season with a double-victory.

Silver to Eduard Ferrer/Carlos De Maqua (ESP) and third to Enzo Balanger/Gaultier Tallieu (FRA).

No racing on the final day as the high winds mucked up the race programme.

Initial series leaders, Violette Dorange/Camille Orion (FRA), struggled in the penultimate day of racing. With the breeze up, they scored two mid-fleet finishes and damaged their points count. But regardless, they lay claim to an impressive fourth place finish and top girls team in the 68-boat U17 fleet. Dorange/Orion will also be returning to the U17 fleet fray at next week’s 420 Junior Europeans.

420 U17 – Final Top 10 after nine races
1. Telis Athanasopoulos Yogo/Dimitris Tassios (GRE 56071) - 24 pts
2. Eduard Ferrer/Carlos De Maqua (ESP 55980) - 39 pts
3. Enzo Balanger/Gaultier Tallieu (FRA 56030) - 42 pts
4. Violette Dorange/Camille Orion (FRA 55959) - 74 pts
5. Nick Zeltner/Till Seger (SUI 55553) - 81 pts
6. Luis Doreste/Julio Alonso (ESP 55539) - 94 pts
7. Tommaso Cilli/Bruno Mantero (ITA 56076) - 107 pts
8. Lucas Parés/Teo Parés (ESP 53559) - 114 pts
9. Giorgos Drosos/Nikolaos Giotopoulos (GRE 53456) - 116 pts
10. Iris Arvaniti/Maria Eleni Andreou (GRE 53168) - 122 pts