35th Lake Garda Meeting – Final day – USA and Italy wins
by Fraglia Vela Riva on 17 Apr 2017
Final day - 35th Lake Garda Meeting Elena Giolai/Fraglia Vela Riva
Outstanding edition of the Lake Garda Optimist Meeting: good weather and strong wind let the Guinness World Records’ event run smoothly both on land and water to the delight of the 1063 helmsmen, their families and coaches.
Once again, Fraglia Vela Riva demonstrates its organizational skills with the perfect synergy between the jury, race committee, race crew, and voluntary staff, whose work and collaboration led to the success of the event.
For the first time, an athlete from the US wins the Junior division: the talented Stephan Baker, on top of the chart from day one, won with the advantage of a race. Placed second is the German Florian Krauss, followed by the Russian Lazdin. Brilliant recovery of Tommaso Boccuni (Fraglia Vela Riva), who finished fourth overall. The Russian Lukoyanova is the first female.
After the past victories of the Sepe siblings in the Junior division, the tradition of the Circolo Vela Roma continues in the Cadet division as well: Maria Vittoria Arseni tops the chart, leaving the home athlete Alex Demurtas just one point apart. The Polish Chelkowski is third.
Great team result for Fraglia Vela Riva with six athletes in the top 15, winning once again the ITAS Trophy for the club with the best four juniors.
You could not ask for more from this 35th edition of the Lake Garda Optimist Meeting: the participants increase, breaking the certified record as the world’s largest regatta of one single sailing class, moreover every year the enthusiasm of the foreign guests is more and more visible.
The weather was great for sailing and the families enjoyed the sunny days in Garda Trentino: the thrilling regattas were so suspenseful for the Cadet division, while the American Stephan Baker dominated among the Juniors from day one, showing off his skills and talent also in medium-high wind conditions. Thanks to his advantage, he won after nine races out of ten, against over 800 opponents. The German Florian Krauss placed second, and the Russian Dmitry Ladzin third, while the home athlete Tommaso Boccuni scored an incredible fourth place. The Russian Alexandra Lukoyanova won the female ranking, 21st overall.
Exciting competitions for the Cadets: the victory of the Italian Maria Vittoria Arseni (CV Roma) was uncertain until the finish of the last race, who topped the chart with just one point of advantage on Alex Demurtas (Fraglia Vela Riva), who sailed an extraordinary final with 1-2. The Polish Patryk Chelkowski is third, with a gap of thirteen points.
Before the prize-giving ceremony, all participants and their families had the possibility to watch the exciting show, offered by Kinder + Sport, performing the Gardaland mimic Jean Pierre Bianco, stage named PASS PASS - one further recreational moment before the awards and the Easter eggs delivery.
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