Sarah Douglas finishes 6th overall at the 2022 ILCA 6 Sailing European Championship

Sarah Douglas finishes 6th overall at the 2022 ILCA 6 Sailing European Championship © Sail Canada

Canadian sailor Sarah Douglas from Toronto took the 6th spot overall at the 2022 ILCA 6 European Championship which ended Monday in Hyères, France.

Through the 10 races held since Wednesday, Sarah Douglas finished five times in the top five and sat in the first or second place for several days. But a tough day on Sunday left her in sixth position, which she was able to protect on the last day of racing on Monday, which involved a high level field of athletes considering that 10 of the top 14 finishers from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were in action. At the same competition held in 2020 in Poland, Douglas also finished sixth overall.

Agata Barwinska from Poland won the gold medal out of a total of 110 sailors, followed by Maud Jayet from Switzerland and Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands, who also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

"The podium slipped away Sunday but I'm really happy with achieving my goals in terms of process this week," said Sarah Douglas. "It was a tricky and cold week in Hyères, but I'm happy to have finished off the season on a high note."

The European Championship was the last competition of the season for the ILCA classes.

"It was a long year of highs and lows and now, it's time to take a well-deserved break away from the boat before taking on the 2023 season," added Douglas. "The next European Championship is just four months away in Italy in March."

Maura Dewey from Victoria, B.C., took the 70th position.

Fillah Karim: best Canadian male performance at this event since at least 2016

The ILCA 7 European Championship was also held at the same time and Fillah Karim from Vancouver was the top Canadian with a 34th-place finish out of 169 sailors, the best Canadian performance at this event since at least 2016. In 2018 in France, Robert Davis finished in 36th place.

Pavlos Kontides from Cyprus took the first position, followed by Michael Beckett from Great Britain and Kaarle Tapper from Finland.

In 42nd place going into the last day of competition, Karim finished 9th in the last race of Monday's event to climb up to the 34th position, therefore improving on the 42nd-place finish he had earned last year.

Fillah Karim was the top Canadian among the eight in action in ILCA 7. James Juhasz from Oakville, ON, also took part in the gold fleet and finished 57th, while Luke Ruitenberg from St. Margarets Bay, N.S., took the 74th position, Ben Flower from Tobermory, ON, was 100th, Forrest Wachholz from Innisfil, ON, 106th, Norman Struthers from Toronto, 109th, Ryan Anderson from Halifax, 110th, and Daniel Connors from Bedford, N.S., 156th.

More information is available on Sail Canada's website at www.sailing.ca.