Laser Radial Youth World Champion is USSDT's Erika Reineke

by Marni Lane on 26 Jul 2010 US Sailing Development Team member Erika Reineke (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) continued her successful sailing streak this month by becoming the 2010 Laser Radial Youth World Champion today.

After winning a bronze medal at the 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 10 days ago, Reineke firmly stated her aspiration for this event: 'My goal is to win and bring home a gold medal,' she said. She achieved that goal with a race to spare and a healthy 27-point cushion, thanks to a string of first and second place finishes in the 44-boat girls fleet.

'I am very excited. I set a goal and went after it, and I didn’t let the results from last week get in my head,' said the talented 16-year-old sailor, referring to her bronze medal at the ISAF Youth Worlds, as it’s commonly called, held in Istanbul, Turkey. This time, she swapped podium finishes with The Netherland’s Michelle Broekhuizen, who finished third.

'After the second day when I got two firsts, I said to myself, ‘I can definitely do this. I’m in the running for gold, so I have to execute well,’' she said today before the awards ceremony. 'I pushed hard to achieve results, and it paid off.'

Reineke credited her lead to her starts and downwind speed, which worked to her advantage in Istanbul as well. 'I had amazing starts every single race, except for one, and I was able to push back the fleet,' she said. 'It was exciting to do that, and it also gave me confidence. On the downwind [legs], I was very fast again, and I was able to gain a lot of boats.'

Despite her small size, she knew she had the strength to keep up with the bigger girls in the breeze. 'Because of all the training I had done leading up to now, I knew I was strong and could hang with them,' she said. 'I felt very strong when I was hiking.'

'She never quit,' said Coach Ryan Minth (New York, N.Y.). 'Her determination and effort were remarkable. When she was doing well, she persevered. When she was behind, she had remarkable recoveries.'

The world’s best youth Laser Radial sailors – 320 sailors from 42 countries – competed in the boys and girls divisions this week in a mixture of light air and breeze in the teens. For complete results, please visit the event web site: http://www.laserworlds2010.co.uk. For the latest news and updates, please follow the team on Facebook and Twitter.

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