Olympic Gold medalists open the Lanzarote International Regatta
by Lanzarote International Regatta 11 Feb 2022 17:34 PST
12-19 February 2022
Kahena Kunze y Martine Grael (BRA) - Lanzarote International Regatta 2021 © Sailing Energy
Brazilian Kahena Kunze and Brit Dylan Fletcher-Scott will compete at the Lanzarote International Regatta to be held at Marina Rubicón, in their build up for Paris 2024. More than 140 sailors from over 30 countries who will compete from this Saturday, February 12, in the first world event of the 49er, 49erFX, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and the new class that will debut in Paris: the iQFoil.
The opening ceremony of the second edition of the Lanzarote International Regatta has been starred this year by the Olympic sailors who are training in the Canary Islands in preparation for Paris 2024. Two Olympic Gold medalists, the Brazilian Kahena Kunze (49er FX) and the British Dylan Fletcher-Scott (49er), presented this Friday at the Marina Rubicón this first regatta of the world Olympic sailing class calendar. They opened this international competition that brings together more than 140 sailors from over 30 different countries who will compete from this Saturday, February 12, in the Olympic classes 49er, 49erFX, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and the new sensational class: The iQFoil (women's and men's).
"We were here last year, and it was a very important regatta for us," said the Brazilian, who went on to win the Gold medal in the 49er FX sailing class at Tokyo 2020, last August, with Martine Grael.
According to Kunze, Lanzarote's conditions make the Canary Island a perfect training base, especially to start the cycle towards Paris 2024, serving this training competition.
"We are very happy because the place is lovely to sail and train very specific things, as the conditions here are constant, which helps us a lot in sailing training and it is those details in the end make the difference," Kunze commented. In her opinion, it is now cold in Europe, so "we are here every day appreciating the temperature, the place, the waves, the wind... everything!" exclaimed the Brazilian sailor, who also won the 49er FX class and the Gold Medal at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics. The Brazilian team has set its sights on winning this second edition of the Lanzarote International Regatta, although "in sailing we also depend on other conditions more related to nature, but we will do our best to reach the top of the podium," said the Brazilian.
For Brit, Dylan Fletcher-Scott, who will compete in the 49er, Lanzarote "is a step above" with respect to other places to train in Europe, not only because of its weather conditions, "also because the wind is consistent, there are always good wave conditions, the sea water is warm and, in general, it is a good place to train because you can practice many outdoor sports. "It's exciting to come back to Lanzarote and the second Lanzarote International Regatta, as I have very nice memories; in fact, we should have been coming for many years now, but we will be coming back every year from now on," Fletcher-Scott, winner of a gold medal in Tokyo 2020 in the 49er class, as well as taking sixth place in the Rio 2016 Olympics, insisted. "This year I hope to make it to the podium with my new partner," the Briton noted.
The Lanzarote International Regatta will be contested by six of the 10 Olympic classes. The first races will star the iQFoil, the flying boards that will debut in Paris 2024, both male and female categories, "of which we already enjoyed a circuit of iQGames that inaugurated the international circuit two weeks ago," explained Rafael Lasso, CEO of Marina Rubicon, organizer of the event along with the Canary Islands Sailing Federation and Dinghy coach. Next, the double-handed classes will sail: the women's 49erFX and the men's 49er; and, finally, the two one-person Olympic dinghies ILCA 6 and 7 (formerly known as the Laser Radial and Laser). "The weather forecast is pretty good, it looks like we will sail every day and the truth is that seeing the bay full of so many boats of the different classes are a spectacle, with people from all over the world coming to visit us," Lasso added.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote congratulated the organization for bringing to the island a sport that places it at the top of the elite of the sailing world, but also the participants for choosing the island and the port of Marina Rubicon to train in what "may be the prelude to the Paris 2024 Games," said Alfredo Mendoza, Minister of Sports, Public Works and Planning and Coordination of Projects of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, which sponsors the event from the areas of Tourism and Sports, along with Promotur.
In his words, from the public administrations "we support these public-private initiatives, together with the tourism-sports binomial that builds the loyalty of the people who visit us", Mendoza assured. It is also appreciated from the inter-island government the joint work to "make these competitions a reality", which also have a strong private initiative and collaborators such as Naviera Armas, Cabrera Medina or the Hotel THe Volcán Lanzarote.
Since the first edition of the Lanzarote International Regatta, the training base on the island has been consolidated, since the sailors come seasonally and establish a link with the island; in fact, "many of them are already half locals", said Rafael Lasso during the presentation press conference. The CEO of Marina Rubicon has invited to visit the marina and see the event that will last all week until next Saturday, February 19.
Among these participants also highlights among the Olympic gold medalists the Dutch Kiran Badloe, silver medals as the French Thomas Goyard (Windsurfing) or bronze medals as the Spanish Joan Cardona (Laser) or the German Thomas Plößel (49er). "There are right now on the island many world, European and national champions, as well as federations with Olympic training base, such as Spain, Holland, France, Great Britain among others," concluded Rafael Lasso.