470 Junior Worlds – Spanish women in gold, Spanish men in silver

by SVG Verlag on 26 Jun 2016 470 Junior World Championship – It was a big jump for joy: When Silvia Mas and Paula Barcelo from Spain crossed the finish line as the second boat at the Medal Race on the last Sunday of Kiel Week, they were the new World Champions - and they jumped into the Baltic straight away.

'We are extremely happy, we have been under pressure the whole week. This evening we will celebrate!', said Mas. Their compatriots David and Alex Charles will definitely be part of the party. The Spanish twin brothers are celebrating with Mas/Barcelo and are happy about their own finish: runners up to the World Champion's title.

Junior Worlds men: The title of World Champion goes to Keiju Okada and Naoya Kimura from Japan, who secured it from an exciting finish: That they would bring home the gold medal was not decided before the last downwind of the final race. Okada/Kimura were eighth much of the way round and so would have dropped to second step on the podium. But they crossed the line in sixth, winning the final downwind thriller to secure the title.

The last of the five racing days sees another Japanese team make it to the podium. Daichi Takayama and Akira Takayanagi secured bronze with a confident Medal Race leaving the French 2015 world champion Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan to fourth, fifth are Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro and sixth are Maor Abu/Yoav Rooz.

A protest on Saturday evening from Okada/Kimura dropped Vice World Champions from the previous year Malte Winkel and Matti Cipra (Kiel/Germany) back second to seventh because they had to count their BFD. And after the medal race the Germans stayed fifth.

Junior WM women: Before the start of the Medal Race of the women, the podium places were not decided yet. But at the the placings stayed the same: The gold medal goes to the super fast duo Mas/Barcelo from Spain, the silver medal to the French team Marina Lefort and Lara Garnier, and the bronze medal goes to the Vice World Champions from the previous year Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou from Greece.

But the disqualification of the Italians Paternoster/Karuso, for starting early meant the cards were redistributed and the Germans Loewe/Markfort missed out of third. And even the Greek crew, that had moved up the ranking, are not really happy: 'We have made so many mistakes in the last days, normally rank one should have been possible. Now we are looking at the Olympics 2020. “

The title defenders Benedetta die Salle and Alessandra Dubbini finish the Junior World Championship 2016 in fifth. Stanislav Kassarov, president of the 470 class association, was happy about the strong and successful participation of the numerous crews in the fleet: 'For over 70 percent of the participants, it has been the first 470 Championship. I am very satisfied about the results of the Kiel Week. It was a great event for the boat class.“ The president of the class praised the conditions ashore and on the water. 'It was a very impressive event', said Kassarov. And the media work of the Kieler-Woche.tv and the press office have been perfect. 'This was great PR for the 470 class and the sailing sport', said Kassarov in praise of Kiel.