Sweden, Australia and Italy move to the top on day three of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships

49erFX: Swedes shocked by their slender lead

It’s not like it’s anything new for Vilma Bobeck to be leading a 49erFX World Championship. After all, the Swedish helm absolutely dominated the 2023 Worlds in The Hague with former crew Rebecca Netzler to claim the title before going on to win the Olympic silver medal at Paris 2024. But to only recently team up with new sheet hand Ebba Berntsson and now to be leading the World Championship at the halfway stage after little more than three weeks in the boat together – that’s way beyond expectation.

Like the leading Swedes, another new pairing who are exceeding their expectations are the Spanish in third overall, just a point off the lead. Paola Barcelo has been to two Olympics and won a World Championship as a crew. But now, steering at the back of the boat and with new partner Maria Cantero, the Spanish are enjoying a similar Swedish sensation of not quite believing they are able to perform at the top level so soon. Of course it helps that standing in their corner outside the ring is coach Xabi Fernandez, a 49er World Champion and Olympic gold medallist as well as a veteran of many campaigns and in the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race.

Special mention should go to Pia Dahl Andersen and Nora Edland who raced in the first two races of the session despite Edland still suffering from severe illness. After scoring a 3rd and 8th they retired from the final race of the afternoon but the Norwegians still hold 8th place overall, a phenomenal performance under extraordinary circumstances.

49er: Aussies hijack the lead ahead of the big guns

Jack Ferguson and Jack Hildebrand from Australia have climbed from third to first overall at the end of 49er qualifying. Only the top 25 of 84 entries move into Gold Fleet while the rest divide into silver and bronze fleet.

Five points back are two teams on equal points are the Polish team of Mikolaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch along with three-time World Champions from the Netherlands, Bart Lambriex van Aanholt and Floris van de Werken. And just a point further back in fourth are the Olympic Champions from Spain, Diego Botin and Florian Trittel.

Last team to squeak into the top 25 are the Norwegian siblings Mathias and Markus Berthet with two notable teams from downunder just missing the cut. Australia’s Otto Henry and Shaun Connor fell short by two points and a point further back in 27th are last year’s International Moth World Champion Mattias Coutts along with Oscar Gunn from New Zealand.

Nacra 17: Italians pushed hard by flying Dutch duo

After a slow start to their regatta, home favourites Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei are winding their Nacra 17 up to top speed on home waters. The Italians won both races on the first day of the 20-boat Gold Fleet competition, displacing previous leaders from Great Britain, John Gimson and Anna Burnet, who are now four points off the lead in second.

In both races the Italians were pushed hard all the way by the up and coming Dutch team, Willemijn Offerman and Scipio Houtman, who have risen from ninth to fourth overall and just two points behind the Turkish duo in third, Sinem Kurtbay and Alican Kaynar. Offerman was buzzing after their successful day on the bay of Cagliari in full-foiling conditions.

Text by Andy Rice, event reporter. Images courtesy of Sailing Energy. Read the full story here.