“You only get it here” - Epic Mistral baptises the next Olympic generation in Hyères

ILCA 6 and 7 – (women’s & men’s solo dinghy)

ILCA 6

Denmark’s Anna Munch kept the overall lead after a strong second in the second race in the yellow group. She capsized in the first race and had to fight back to tenth (her discard for now). Belgium’s Emma Plasschaert showed her class and moved onto’s Munch’s shoulder in second, after finishing second in the first race before winning the second in blue group.

She moved past training parter, USA’s Charlotte Rose (3, 7 in blue group), who stays third ahead of the two Italians, Chiara Beninin Floriani and Emma Mativi, who both won a race in yellow group.

Anna Munch (DEN): “The first race, I lost my lane after the start, I had to struggle a bit, the speed was there, and then I capsized at the gate. I ended up finishing okay, but I made it hard for myself.

The second one was more simple – starting at the pin and then going left, sending it. And then I was second in that one. I really enjoyed sailing today. it was full on. I feel like this is what the laser is, the more you hike the faster you go, it’s such a physical boat. I enjoy these days, it’s nice when it’s light and more technical, but this is what they call proper sailing.”

ILCA 7

Hong Kong, China’s Nicholas Halliday kept the overall lead with three impressive races on a high-scoring day in the evolving conditions after the 11:00 start. Halliday was third in the first race in yellow group, won the second and was fifth in the third as the Mistral blew in.

The Netherlands’s Duko Bos stayed in second but was unhappy with his 6, 5, 3 in blue group.

Italy’s Dimitri Peroni (2, 11, 5 in blue group) moved into third.

Nicholas Halliday (HKG): “I was just hanging on for my life on the last downwind – and the ILCA 6 are still going! It actually started off a bit light but was picking up throughout the day and the last race was just pure survival conditions. It was epic. It was just hiking, and then hanging on for the downwind. It started off at about 10-12 knots, the second race was 15-18 knots and the last race, I have no idea, 20+. I’m really happy. I didn’t know what to expect coming in to today. I had a pretty big discard, but, I’m pretty happy to come away with three top tens.”

iQFOiL (men’s & women’s windsurfing)

Women

Israel’s impressive windsurfing team were ready for the Mistral! They were the last of the fleets home, enjoying the biggest winds. After continuing to dominate in the four races today, they hold all three places on the podium and five of the top seven.

But Tamar Steinberg was again in a class of her own with four more wins. She has now won seven of the eight races. Safe to say that, Israel’s Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, Sharon Kantor, has plenty of competition on her hands for LA 2028. She could only manage 8, 14, 2, 2 but that good enough to move into second overall. Shahar Tibi (3, 4, DNC(42), 9) stayed in third.

Men

Grae Morris, Australia’s Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, extended his overall lead by winning all four races in yellow group. Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski (14, 3, 5, 3 in blue group), held onto second place. France’s Clément Bourgeois (2, 2, 2, 4 in blue group) did likewise in third overall. But they all had an eye on France’s Nicolas Goyard, who was as dominant as Morris, winning all four races in the blue group to leap up into fourth place overall.

Formula Kite (men’s and women’s kite)

Women

China hold the top two spots after Jingyue Chen jumped into second place after winning the first two races of the day and backing that up with a second and third (either side of a DNC for not finishing the fourth race).

China’s Wan Li is vulnerable at the top after having to discard her 9, 8 in the first two races, a 3, 3, 2 finish ensured she keeps the overall lead overnight.

Britain’s Lily Young (4, 4, 7, 4, 5) is in third and all will be alert to the threat of France’s Lauriane Nolot (silver medallist in Paris 2024), who was back in full flight with two second places and two victories before a crash prevented her finishing the last race.

Men

The 18-year-old Singaporean, Maximilian Maeder (2, 1, 1, 16, 2), re-took the overall lead after winning two of the five races and finishing second in the first and last of gold fleet. Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi, won the first race and was second in the second before he dropped back, but is still in touching distance. With a gap behind them, Greece’s Kameron Maramenidis is currently ending the keen battle for third.

Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei confirmed their dominance of the field in all conditions by winning both races and have opened up a 16-point lead on the field after eight races.

Austria’s Laura Farese & Matthäus Zöchling (7, 7, 4) held on to second place and Britain’s John Gimson & Anna Burnett (2, 5, 3), winners in Palma just ahead of the Italian duo, moved into third place and just a point behind the Austrians, with the podium looking like a battle between the top five.

Gianluigi Ugolini: “Two nice races. We had the chance to do two races in good conditions, not forced, you know. Happy. The second one, after the start, it built up really fast and it reached 20-25. The problem was the waves, because normally we can sail really easily in 20-25 knots, but with waves, it’s a bit tricky. I think we were able to open up big gaps (on the fleet), we had a really good strategies, so we got into first position from the start and then just let the boat go as fast as possible.”

49er and 49erFX (men’s and women’s double-handed skiff)

Women’s

USA’s re-formed duo, Paris Henken & Helena Scutt moved to the top of the leaderboard with another high-scoring day in the fleet making it one the hardest to call. They finished second in the first race of the day and were then ninth and tenth in the next two.

But that was enough to displace Belgium’s Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts who finished 14, 15, 8 after a day of troubled starts saw them slip back to second overall. France’s Lara Granier and Amélie Riou (5, 6, 5) enjoyed one of the best days to jump up into third place.

Men’s 49er

Despite being disqualified in blue group’s second race for a premature start, Uruguay’s duo of Hernando Umpierre and Fernando Diz jumped to the top of a tightly-packed leaderboard by finishing fourth in the first race and sixth in the third. Britain’s James Grummett and Rhos Hawes, won the first race in yellow group and were then eighth and fourth to move into second place overall. Poland’s Dominik Buksak & Adam Głogowski (5, 2, 8 in yellow group) moved into third. It is anyone’s fleet still.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)

Germany’s Simon Diesch & Anna Markfort extended their lead by winning the only race of the day possible as the Mistral took hold. Spain’s Olympic bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 (2021), Jordi Xammar Hernández, with his new teammate, Marta Cardona Alcántara, were second to move into second place overall, but the German duo already have an 11-point lead after six races. France have the next three boats, but Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes slipped back to third overall after finishing seventh.

Text and images courtesy of FFVoile/SailingEnergy