2019 470 World Championships at Enoshima, Japan - Preview
by Luissa Smith / 470 Class 3 Aug 2019 00:43 PDT
2-9 August 2019
Going for Gold, Silver and Bronze 470 World Championship Medals - 2019 470 World Championships © International 470 Class
Enoshima, the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Sailing Competition, is playing host to the 2019 470 World Championships and Olympic Qualification event from 2-9 August 2019.
184 athletes representing 30 nations are competing for Men and Women Worlds podium places and for many teams the Championship serves as a round of their national selection process for Tokyo 2020. For those nations not yet qualified for Tokyo 2020, the pressure is on to make the cut and claim one of the few remaining nation slots with 4 in the Men and 6 in the Women.
Teams are drilling into their final day of training, maximising strengths and reducing weaknesses, in a line-up featuring multiple World and Junior World medallists, European and Junior European medallists and Olympic medallists, alongside plenty more talented teams hoping to add shiny new medals to their trophy cabinet. Six days of racing, with 11 races scheduled plus the medal race will decide futures for many.
Racing a World Championships has a different pressure compared to next year's Olympics, but the quest for gold is seen by many as tougher with more of the world's top teams in contention in Enoshima than will be on the starting line in Tokyo next year, and add to that the intensity for some of trying to claim the elusive nation qualification slot for Tokyo 2020.
The weather forecast for the week ahead is typical for this time of year, with the sea breeze arriving in the early afternoon. Enoshima is also renowned for big seas and waves, and for sure teams will be hoping for some of both to show off 470 sailing at its best. The wind is expected to be fairly stable, so being out front will be all about being faster than the others.
Racing starts on Sunday 4 August, with the 53 boat 470 Men split into two fleets for the 5 races qualification series, before advancing to gold and silver for the 6-race final series, and onto the top 10 for the medal race podium decider on Friday 10 August. The 39 boat women's fleet will race a single series of 11 races ahead of the medal race.
Saturday 3 August sees the second and final day of registration and measurement, the official practice race and the formal launch of the Championship at the evening's Opening Ceremony.
470 Men
Fifty-three teams from 26 nations are competing in the 470 Men, and the most famous partnership in this line-up are the #1 world ranked team of Mat Belcher/Will Ryan of Australia. In sailing you can't control the environment, you can only control how you respond to it and the Aussies are amongst the best at that. Holding multiple World Championship titles Belcher/Page have time and time again proven their superior talent across all wind and sea conditions.
Belcher/Ryan qualified Australia to Tokyo 2020 last year, and by all accounts it is a done deal that they will represent their nation in Japan. So this time around the pair will focus on asserting their authority on the same race track that will be used for the Olympics in just one year's time and regaining the World title they lost to Kevin Peponnet/Jeremie Mion of France last year. A World Championship win, would make it Belcher's eighth and the fifth for Ryan.
As defending World Champions, the world #6 ranked pairing of Peponnet/Mion have no intention of letting go of their title easily though, and have improved significantly since 2018. "Last year with Kevin was a big rush," said Mion in reference to what was a newly formed partnership ahead of the 2018 Worlds.
"Last year we had everything to do and a lot to build together. We did our best and we succeed to play our best game. Now I think we have more cards in our hand. We know each other better, we improved our technique and our knowledge of the boat. We are faster in some conditions."
The pair arrived in Enoshima twelve days ago to give themselves time to adapt to the warm, humid conditions and recover from jet lag. They are now ready for the battle ahead, as Mion continued, "Our goal is to be in the top 3 and If things are going well that can be the title, if not that can be less good. Everybody's pushing hard this year and we know there will be a long and difficult battle."
The pair is one of five French teams hoping to get the nod and represent their nation in Tokyo, so whatever the final leader board they must outperform their team mates.
Since January 2018, the world #2 team Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergström have finished inside the top four at 13 of the 16 events they have contested, including four wins and a Europeans silver medal. They join other leading names still waiting to do what it takes to get their nation's nod to fly the flag in Tokyo. First though they have to see off rivals and the world #13 ranked pairing of Carl-Fredrik Fock/Marcus Dackhammar.
Eight Japanese teams are in the tussle to secure Olympic selection. Owning the game plan at Enoshima World Cup last year were the world #4 ranked partnership of Keiju Okada/Jumpei Hokazono who took the win and are frontrunners for Olympic selection. Super familiar with the race track here they could do well, but will need a podium finish to be selected for Tokyo 2020 at the 470 Worlds. If not, then selection moves to the Enoshima World Cup in three weeks' time.
Americans Stuart McNay/David Hughes are hoping to fly their nation's flag in Tokyo, which would mark a fourth time Olympic appearance for McNay and second for Hughes. They have to shine through a three-tiered structure national selection process, which requires them to be the top Americans at the three back to back events in Japan, 470 Worlds, Tokyo 2020 Test Event and the Enoshima World Cup, as well as the 2020 Miami World Cup and 2020 470 Worlds.
Ranked #5 in the world, the learning curve keeps growing as McNay commented, "We are always trying to improve on all skills. We know we are becoming a better team. Results are rarely linear and without challenges, but we are working hard for a breakout performance in the near future. Our performance objective at this year's Worlds is to post a personal best."
Hughes shared his thoughts on the likely weather, "In our experience, Enoshima's racing conditions are varied. You have to keep alert to the opportunities as they come along. We had heard that light sea breezes are the norm here, but we have seen a bit of everything. One thing you can count on is big waves."
Another leading partnership are Spain's Jordi Xammar/Nicolas Rodriguez who have only once finished outside the top 5 over the past eight months. A two-time 470 Junior World Champion, Xammer stepped onto the 470 Worlds podium with Rodriguez for the first time last year when they qualified Spain for the Tokyo Olympics.
Rewarding their performance at last year's worlds, nations already qualified to Tokyo 2020 are Australia, France, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the USA, alongside host nation Japan. Here at the 2019 470 Worlds in Enoshima, based on the provisional entry list, seventeen nations will see their teams battling it out to claim one of the 4 nation slots up for grabs, with American Samoa, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Greece Hungary, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey all in the hunt. The odds are high and racing will be super tough.
470 Women
Never out of the frontrunners are the world ranked #3 team of Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz of France, who have most recently held the upper hand on the fleet winning the 2019 470 Europeans and 2019 Hempel World Cup Series Final. Two-time Olympian Lecointre counts gold, silver and bronze World Championship medals and a Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medal, so knows exactly what it takes to win.
Amongst those also installed as favourites in the 39 boat women's fleet is the British world #1 pairing of Hannah Mills/Eilidh McIntrye, who finished in silver behind the French for their last two events. Mills is the reigning Olympic Gold medallist, counts a silver medal from London 2012, and also owns one gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze 470 Worlds medals. And they did trounce the French at Trofeo Princesa Sofia, where the roles were reversed with the British winning and French coming in behind in second.
McIntrye noted this as a milestone result for the pair who teamed up in early 2017, saying, "Palma was a key turning point for me. It meant a lot to win a major regatta with a big fleet as we kept coming second and just missing the mark. It was a big confidence boost."
Looking ahead to their game plan, McIntyre continued, "I've never won a World Championships, it's certainly a goal of mine!"
All Japan's eyes will be on the defending World Champions and home nation team of Ai Kondo/Miho Yoshioka.
"We are ready," said Kondo. "Enoshima is my home sailing town and I am so excited to be sailing here."
A veteran Olympic sailor, Kondo has three times represented her nation at the Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016); with Rio her best result of 5th. But this time it will be different, as Kondo continued, saying, "The Tokyo Olympics is very special for me as a home country Olympics. Having the 2020 Olympics in Japan was a big incentive to continue campaigning and now I really want to be selected and am looking forward to being here in one year's time."
Finish on the 470 Worlds podium on Friday 9 August and Kondo's dream will be fulfilled. If not, the pair will have to take it to the next round of national selection.
The Netherlands' Afrodite Zegers claimed an enviable win at last year's Enoshima World Cup with her former crew, but couldn't find her punch when it came to the 2018 470 Worlds and the first round of Olympic qualification. Leaving nothing to chance, Zegers has teamed up with one of the best ever 470 crews, Lobke Berkhout. Berkhout holds silver and bronze Olympic medals, and has won five 470 World Championships. Early indicators look good, including the bronze medal at the 470 Europeans in May and a world ranking of #5, but there is no let-up in this sport and past results don't count for Olympic qualification.
China, France, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and host nation Japan qualified for Tokyo 2020 at last year's 470 Worlds in Aarhus, Denmark. Battling it out for one of the 6 Olympic qualification places on offer at the 2019 470 Worlds will be teams from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Thailand and the USA.
With nation qualification assured, one of the many teams under the pressure of securing national selection are Spain's Silvia Mas/Patricia Cantero, the world #2 ranked pair who qualified Spain at last year's Worlds from their silver medal performance. They are facing off against the 2016 Olympians Bàrbara Cornudella/Sara López, with the teams measured based on their results at the 2019 470 Worlds, 2019 World Cup Enoshima and 2020 470 Worlds in Mallorca.
On their goal for the Worlds, twenty-two year old Mas makes a bold statement for a repeat performance, saying, "We would like to finish in the top 3, it will be difficult but it's what we have worked for the whole year."
Mas won the 2017 470 Junior World Championships here in Enoshima with her former crew, and feels familiar with the venue, as she explained, "It's my third year in Enoshima and we have already been here for one month. I simply love Japan and it is easy to acclimatise apart from the super-hot weather!"
The significance of racing on waters with such enormous Olympic history is not lost on the team, as Cantero added, "It's amazing to go every day on the water and think these are the waters of a past Olympics and now, in one year everything will recover the spirit as another Olympic Sailing Competition is held here. It's incredible and the conditions for sailing are amazing."
Another one of the younger partnerships is Maria Bozi/ Rafailina Klonaridou who qualified Greece to Tokyo last year. The pair rank as the leading Greek women's team, but don't expect to have their national selection confirmed or otherwise until next year.
Talking on their preparations, Bozi said, "The Tokyo 2020 Olympic venue seems to be very interesting. So far we had amazing conditions, sunny and breezy with good waves. We have had a lot of fun during our training period and we guess we are expecting similar conditions during the Championship. The only one thing very hard to get used to is the really high temperature combined with high humidity.... boatwork is really exhausting!
"Last year we finished 9th in the World Championship in Aarhus. This year we want to challenge ourselves and level up with a top 5 finish."
Commenting on the pressure of expectation, twenty-three year old Bozi continued, "Pressure in such an elite level is really high. We are still considered to be a young team but have already scored some good results. The 470 Class is very dynamic and techniques are improving fast, which makes it even more challenging to follow up. It is a blast to race against Olympic and World Champions and we learn a lot from them."
We've given you a snapshot of just some of the teams from around the world in contention, and there is plenty more firepower amongst the rest of the line-up in the 470 Men and Women fleets. Click here for the complete entry list.
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