The medallists were decided today at Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia Mapfre, Palma, Spain, the third regatta of the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup. Alessandra Sensini scooped the overall trophy in her first competition on the RS:X since the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.
France and Great Britain were the big winners in the nations table with five medals each whilst Spain and the Netherlands also put in stand out performances picking up four medals each.
For the second consecutive year the overall winner came from the Women's RS:X fleet.
Alessandra Sensini (ITA) put in a dominant performance, only once finishing a race outside the top five. In second place was 2009 World and European Champion,
Marina Alabau (ESP), with the bronze medal going to the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist
Bryony Shaw from Great Britain. Sensini's goal was to be among the top five,
"I started training again not so long ago and surprisingly I have won", she said. Alabau's silver medal takes her to the top of the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings just ahead of Laura Linares (ITA) who finished just outside the medals in fourth.
There were big changes to the final positions in the Men's RS:X fleet with
Shahar Zubari (ISR) stepping off the podium after finishing eighth in the Medal Race to finish fourth overall just one point adrift of the bronze medallist
Dorian Van rijsselberge (NED) who claimed second in the final race. van Rijsselberge's silver also gives him an eight point lead in the world cup standings. Overall victory went to
Byron Kokalanis (GRE) with 37 points followed by
Tom Ashley from New Zealand.
There was home success in the Men's 470 Medal Race in which a win helped
Onan Barreiros and
Aaron Sarmiento (ESP) to climb to third place on the podium. The victory went to French sailors
Pierre Leboucher and
Vincent Garos with a comfortable 18 point advantage over second placed
Gideon Kliger and
Eran Sela from Israel. Although they missed out on a podium finish,
Mathew Belcher and
Malcolm Page (AUS) maintain their position at the top of the overall standings but are now followed in second by the Israeli duo.
The close battle in the Women's 470 between Italian duo
Giulia Conti and
Giovanna Micol and
Ingrid Petitjean and
Nadège Douroux (FRA) continued in the Medal Race with them finishing fifth and sixth respectively resulting in the Italian's wining the gold medal just two points ahead. Petitjean was happy with the result but said,
"It is a shame to have finished at one step from victory." Third place overall went to another French crew,
Emmanuelle Rol and
Hélène Defrance.
France won their second gold in the 49er fleet.
Emmanuel Dyen and
Stéphane Christidis provided a great performance to finish with a 10 point advantage over second placed
Chris Draper and
Peter Greenhalgh from Great Britain to record their second consecutive World Cup regatta win and consolidate their position at the top of the Standings. Draper and Greenhalgh claimed back the silver from from their Team GBR rivals
Stevie Morrison and
Ben Rhodes who finished ninth in the Medal Race and dropped to third.
Tina Mihelic of Croatia won gold in the Laser Radial class in her private battle with
Veronika Fenclová from the Czech Republic. The bronze medal went to Spanish sailor
Susana Romero.
Ed Wright (GBR) improved his performance throughout the week and did just enough in the Medal Race, finishing fourth, to take a narrow victory over
Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and the gold by just one point, his second World Cup victory this season. A tough battle for bronze between French sailors
Jonathan Lobert and
Thomas Le Breton resulted in Lobert finishing with 53 points to Le Breton's 54 points.
Javier Hernandez won gold in the Laser after a close dual in the medal race with Croatian sailor Tonci Stipanovic who had to settle for the silver medal. Hernández said, "This is like a dream; it is the first World Cup event I win. I was very tense during the race because I knew it was going to be tough but I battled to the end. The last downwind leg was very exciting because we were all sailing in a close group."
Victory in the Star class went to Swede Fredrik Loof and Johan Tillander by just one point from Swiss sailors Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria. Third place overall went to German team Alexander Schlonski and Frithjof Kleen.
In the Women Match Racing final, Renee Groeneveld's Dutch team defeated Nicky Souter's Australian team 3-1 to take the gold medal. Third and fourth places went to Sally Barkow's US team and Lucy Macgregor's British team respectively.
Olympic sailors now turn their attention to the next stop on the ISAF Sailing World Cup calendar, the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères at the end of April. The Trofeo Sofia will be back next year with new dates, 2-9 April 2011.
For more on the 41st Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE including the latest results visit www.trofeoprincesasofia-mapfre.org.
For the latest news, photos and videos, as well as Standings, event details and more, visit the ISAF Sailing World Cup website at www.sailing.org/worldcup.