Focus the key to change for Spanish young gun

The 2017 World Cup Series Miami is the first step on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic trail and it presents an early opportunity to switch things up with a new class or a new crew. Spanish 470 helm, Jordi Xammar is one of those sailors.

Spain’s young gun came through a tough national selection process with then crew, Joan Herp, to represent his country at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and finished a respectable 12th in his first outing. For Xammar though, respectable isn’t good enough, “Yes we finished 12th, but that means there were 11 crews better than us. We were among the best, but it wasn’t enough.”
 
To get above those 11 crews Xammar believes that focus is the key, and that’s where the new partnership started to come together, “After the Games Joan decided to combine sailing with his studies. In my opinion sailing is so demanding that it makes no sense not to focus on it.”
 
“We went to Rio [2016] to get some experience. A medal was not the target. But, now Tokyo [2020] has to be different. I want to have the opportunity to fight for a medal and that’s the reason why I’m pairing with a new crew, Nico.”
 
The Nico Xammar talks about is Nicolás Rodriguez who now has the opportunity to share a boat with someone he has a lot of respect for, even at a young age, “Having the chance to sail with Jordi Xammar, with his experience, was a surprise for me in the beginning,” said an excited Rodriguez. “I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m very happy.”
 
Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida presents the new team with the first run at a major regatta that resembles the competition format of an Olympic Games and both sailors know that things may take some time to gel, “We have been training together now for five months,” explains Xammar, “This is not ideal if you think some crews here have sailed together for ten years. But we have worked very hard and we are very keen to start racing and pick up the fruits of our labour.”
 
The team work is evident already from the Spaniards as crew Rodriguez echoes the thoughts of his new helm, “We want to show all the work we have done these past months. It’s a long term project, because we are trying to lay the groundwork for something big.”
 
As Xammar has already expressed, and the reason he changed crew, that ‘something big’ is Tokyo 2020 success, “The goal is trying to get a medal in Tokyo, that’s the maximum aspiration for an Olympic athlete,” explained Rodriguez, “But we need to keep our feet on the ground. There’s a long way ahead and there’s the Olympic trials and so on. But we aspire to something big.”
 
The first day of World Cup Series Miami was mixed for Xammar and Rodriguez as they took a bullet and a 16th, capsizing during the process. The laughing Xammar put that down to one reason, “We just wanted to take a swim in Miami.”
 
The Spanish 470 Men will continue racing on Wednesday 25 January at 14:10 local time from Regatta Park, Coconut Grove.

Information on how to follow the event is below:

RESULTS / ENTRIES
A full list of sailors registered to sail in Miami is available to view here – http://manage2sail.com/en-US/eventonly/f61c409e-4fad-49a6-baa6-f9287b804645/style/worldcup#!/entries?classId=e2d355cc-1d5b-4dfb-b6b9-58c9d28c0cfa  
Results will be available from Tuesday 24 January via the Manage2Sail results centre here – http://manage2sail.com/en-US/eventonly/f61c409e-4fad-49a6-baa6-f9287b804645/style/worldcup#!/results?classId=e2d355cc-1d5b-4dfb-b6b9-58c9d28c0cfa

TRACKING
Live tracking and competitor’s analytics will be available via SAP Sailing Analytics throughout the event here – https://swc2017-miami.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html#/event/:eventId=b82f9012-47d8-4e9e-b3b2-a690c1db0fe3

PRESS RELEASES
World Sailing will be releasing international press releases after racing throughout the duration of World Cup Miami. All the latest news and reports will be available to read here – http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/news/index.php

TELEVISION
Medal Races on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January will be streamed live on World Sailing’s Facebook and YouTube Channel.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event on World Sailing’s social networks and get involved in the conversation using #SWCMiami17
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SAILING WORLD CUP
The Sailing World Cup is a World-class, annual series of Olympic sailing for elite and professional sailors. Over 2,000 of the World’s leading sailors, representing over 75 nations have competed in the Sailing World Cup which offers a definitive guide to the best-of-the-best in the Olympic sailing world.