Kiteboarders and windsurfers go for Friday gold as shifts play havoc with process

The other six of the ten Olympic classes will have their Medal Races on Saturday with all to sail with some incredibly close leaderboards.

iQFOiL (men’s & women’s windsurfing)

Israel finished the day where they started, holding the top three and five of the top seven. China’s powerful team occupy the other three in the top 8 (and 9th place for good measure) so the women’s windsurfing Medal Races tomorrow will be an all-Israel vs China affair. Tamar Steinberg (11, 5, 6) had a tough day in the shifty conditions and those behind her will see an opportunity. But Israel’s Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, Sharon Kantor (3, 5, 33) also struggled and there was at least one big number throughout the top of the fleet.

Men

There was lots of shifting of positions in the shifting conditions at the top of the leaderboard, but one constant, Grae Morris, Australia’s Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist. He was not quite as flawless as previous days, finishing seventh and then fifth in the second race, but was back to winning ways in the third and last race of the day.

China’s Kun Bi finished third in that race and jumped into second and straight into the grand final with Morris. That result knocked France’s Louis Pignolet, who could only finish way back in 17th in the last race, back into the third, despite both being equal on 32 points (Bi has more wins overall). Pignolet will have to come through the semi-final now. Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski had the toughest day, with 25, 17, 20 seeing drop precipitously from second, but by one point he finished eighth and will have his shot at the title if he can make it through from the quarter-finals.

Formula Kite (men’s and women’s kite)

Women

China held on to the top two spots for the grand final of the medal races tomorrow with some switches within their powerful kite team. Wan Li’s victory in the fifth and final race of the day took her past compatriot Si Wang, who was only 6th after earlier taking the lead from overnight leader Jingyue Chen.

But France’s Lauriane Nolot, back in competitive action for the first time since her silver medal in Paris 2024, gave them all something to think about as she continued her flight up the leaderboard with two victories in the five races to finish third overall and bank an automatic semi-final.

Men

The 18-year-old Singaporean, Max Maeder, the winner of SOF 2022 at the age of 15 and a bronze medalist at Paris 2024, held his overnight lead to take poll position in the grand final of the medal races tomorrow. But he did not have it all his own way with 14, 1, 2, 4, 12 finishes in the five races. Those behind him struggled even more in the shifty conditions though and Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi only just held onto second place and a grand final ticket ahead of Switzerland’s Gian Stragiotti.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)

Despite an eighth place finish in the final race (which they were able to discard given the excellence of their weeks so far), Germany’s Simon Diesch & Anna Markfort still extended their overnight lead after a second and first place in the first two races of the day.

Spain’s Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara won the first race, but were ninth in the second. A second place in the third race kept them firmly in second but they are still 16 points behind. The Italian duo of Giacomo Ferrari & Alessandra Dubbini moved into third but are 18 point further back.

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

ILCA 6

Italy’s Chiara Beninin Floriani took the lead of the women’s fleet with victory in the third and final race of the day. Just one point separates the top three on the leaderboard. Belgium’s Emma Plasschaert stayed in second level on points despite a final race fifth place finish. Her training partner USA’s Charlotte Rose stayed third with third.

Denmark’s Anna Munch, the overnight leader dropped back to fourth with 4, 10, 6 finishes, but she is only seven points off third with two races left on Friday.

ILCA 7

Hong Kong, China’s Nicholas Halliday kept his overall lead but saw it cut dramatically after following victory in the first race with a 24th place in the second, as the shifts played havoc with the fleet. Two points separate the top three, with fourth place 16 points back with two more races left on Friday. Italy’s Dimitri Peroni prospered and finished third in the second race to push the Netherlands’s Duko Bos back into third overall, though the two are level on points.

Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)

Britain’s John Gimson & Anna Burnett leapt to the top of the leaderboard with a second victory of the day in the final race. After a tough day on the water in shifting conditions and rescheduled races, no one came close to matching their 4, 1, 1 results. It also showed the value of consistency, with nothing lower than an eighth place in the 12 races this week.

The day was hardest on the Italian duo, Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei, who had a 16-point cushion overnight but followed two seventh placed finishes in the first two races with 15th in the last to trail the British by three points. The Dutch duo of Willemijn Offerman & Scipio Houtman moved into third place.

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

Women’s FX

A day of big numbers at the top of the fleet saw Jana Germani & Bianca Caruso take an overnight leader despite finishing 26th in the third and final race. It helped that Belgium’s Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts were 23rd. They held on to their second place, just, by virtue of more race victories than Pia Dahl Andersen and Nora Edland, who jumped up into third after second place finished in the second and third races.
USA’s overnight leaders, Paris Henken & Helena Scutt, had the toughest day of the lead group with 21, 14, 17 seeing them drop to fourth. But just one point separates the boats in second and fifth the leaders are only seven points ahead with three races to come in this high-scoring regatta.

Men’s 49er

A huge delay in the middle of the day because of the shifting wind seemed to cost the USA duo of Nevin Snow & Ian MacDiarmid, who had jumped in the overall lead with fourth place in the first race and first in the second. After the wait they were 21st and 14th to see Britain’s James Grummett and Rhos Hawes move past them, but only by five points. The USA duo were philosophical back in the boat yard as should be all of the top 12 at least with so much to play for. Uruguay’s duo of Hernando Umpierre and Fernando Diz, the overnight leaders, were 20th in the first race but 8, 4, 5 saw them stay third overall, one point behind the Americans.

Text and images courtesy of FFVoile/SailingEnergy.