{"id":3607,"date":"2018-08-12T20:49:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T20:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/?p=3607"},"modified":"2021-01-21T11:34:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:34:31","slug":"3607","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/?p=3607","title":{"rendered":"World Champ 2018 – Denmark sets Olympic standard as Netherlands top medal table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

– Dutch complete double RS:X victory lap.<\/strong>
\n– Picon the mother and medal, France on the rise.<\/strong>
\n– \u201cI spend more time with Kiran than my wife\u201d – Van Rijsselberghe.<\/strong>
\n– Great Britain qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in all ten classes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 drew to a close on Sunday with the Netherlands on top, France on the rise and Denmark basking in accolades from around the world for setting new standards for hosting the biggest sailing event in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Aarhus has really come alive over the last 11 days,\u201d Kim Andersen, the president of World Sailing said. \u201cThousands of people have shown their support, enjoyed the sailing spectacle and the onshore activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a truly fabulous event and as World Sailing President and a proud Dane, I could not be any happier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The greatest gift from the Danes and their 1,100 amazing volunteers was that they provided the perfect stage for the sailors to showcase their talents. New stars have emerged and old ones returned. The week has been graced by many great performances, from dramatic capsizes in the 49erFX and the rise of the Fantela brothers in the 49er, Zsombor Berecz\u2019s tears as he crossed the line to win the Finn and Hungary\u2019s first gold at a quadrennial World Championships and Emma Plasschaert winning Belgium\u2019s first world championship gold in the Laser Radial and proving that Marit Bouwmeester is human.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands topped the final medal table with three golds, two silvers and one bronze from the ten Olympic classes. On Sunday, they added a silver lining to their double victory lap in the windsurfing. Dorian Van Rijsselberghe, the double Olympic champion, and Lilian de Geus had made themselves mathematically uncatchable on Friday. Kiran Badloe, lying in second, kept his rivals behind him in the medal race to take another silver for the Dutch.<\/p>\n

No one across any of the fleets has been more dominant than De Geus. She did not finish lower than ninth in their 12 races over the last two weeks. After dominating Friday, the 26-year-old De Geus, was 30 points clear of China\u2019s Yunxiu Lu in second. This World Championships gold and the challenge it lays down to the rest of the fleet for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Enoshima), will have gone long way to making up for the dreaded fourth place in the Rio 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can party officially now,\u201d De Geus said. \u201cIt\u2019s a strange feeling because I was already world champion on Friday, so we partied on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so disappointed after Rio, so it\u2019s an amazing feeling to be world champion. We trained a lot in these conditions and you could see the results on Friday \u2013 with two bullets. I could see every shift and every gust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind her, France\u2019s 2016 Rio Olympic champion, Charline Picon, laid down her own marker with a magnificent medal race which seized the silver from Lu, who had started the medal race 10 points ahead. The 33-year-old is just making her comeback a year after having a baby \u2013 one of at least eight women in the women\u2019s RS:X fleet who are mothers .<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy with my performance, especially because I\u2019ve just had a baby one year ago, and I\u2019ve only been training for four months,\u201d Picon said. \u201cI\u2019ve proved that you can still trust in me and my performance in big competitions. I hope to improve a lot more over the next few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Lilian did great and I will be using her great performance to compare myself. This week has been hard. I\u2019ve been racing then going back to the apartment to look after my baby. It\u2019s not easy after a day of racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was another result that suggested that France will be a formidable host of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Likewise, Louis Giard holding onto bronze in the men\u2019s RS:X just before. Add in France\u2019s three medals from the kiteboarding classes, which have been included in Paris 2024 (the sailing will be in Marseille) and France ran the Netherlands close.<\/p>\n

Lu just needed to finish fifth or better to be guaranteed silver. The wind softened to five-knot offshore westerlies for the women\u2019s race, down from ten for the men, 40 minutes before. Picon was third to the top mark behind the leader Britain\u2019s Emma Wilson, just 19 and only three points behind at the start of the race.<\/p>\n

But Picon flew into the lead on the first downwind and never gave it up. Lu was seventh and stayed there for the whole race. But with the field so tightly bunched \u2013 with less than 100m between the ten boards \u2013 fluctuations were always possible and nothing was settled until the line. After dominating the class world championships, China\u2019s men and women have found it tougher going here.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s RS:X was more settled. Van Rijsselberghe has been a class apart among the windsurfers over the last two weeks. This is the third time he has won gold before the start of the medal race. The other two times were the London 2012 Olympics and the Rio 2016 Olympics. He does things his own way and he does not leave things to chance.<\/p>\n

Like many of his would-be rivals, the 29-year-old double Olympic champion has only won two races, but his consistency was unmatched. Only once in the 12 races leading to this medal race did he finish out of the top 10.<\/p>\n

Even his highly-rated fellow countryman, Badloe, 23, had not been able to keep close and lay 23 points behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super proud for my nation and myself, and also Kiran who secured silver,\u201d Van Rijsselberghe said. \u201cWe train everywhere and anywhere. I spend more time with Kiran than my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Giard, in third, was five points further behind. He had Poland\u2019s Pawel Tarnowski just two points back in fourth and Greece\u2019s Byron Kokkalanis is fifth, six points further back.<\/p>\n

Badloe slipped to seventh at the bottom of the first downwind, but made up the ten-second gap on Giard on the second upwind, rounded in fifth and held. He could afford to look back to check on Giard\u2019s position on the second and last downwind. And Giard could relax with pursuers safely behind him.<\/p>\n

Sadly the wind had softened to 2-3 knots by the completion of the women\u2019s RS:X and there was no possibility of running what had promised to the medal race of the day in the Nacra.<\/p>\n

The top four boats in this mixed crew foiling cat class were separated by just six points. The pre-race favourites, Italy\u2019s Ruggero Tita and Caterina Marianna Banti were just one point clear of the exciting newcomers, Australia\u2019s brother and sister Team Outteridge, Nathan and Haylee. Argentina\u2019s Rio 2016 Olympic champions, Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli, were two points further back. And that\u2019s they finished.<\/p>\n

Spare a thought for Denmark\u2019s Lin Ea Cenholt and Christian Peter L\u00fcbeck in fourth – three points off the bronze.<\/p>\n

What is the secret of the Dutch domination? For De Gues it is simple. \u201cWe medalled in almost the classes we went for,\u201d she said. \u201cWe push each other to high standards. The secret? Hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Rijsselberghe, who is making a comeback to the sport this year after deciding to have a tilt at a third Olympic gold, the recipe is equally simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is to have more fun than anybody else, so we have that very high in our notes,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just do the simple stuff really well as my coach (New Zealander, Aaron McIntosh) says and we end up there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that we need to beat each other and at the moment we\u2019re pretty good, so you\u2019ve got to try really hard to beat the other guy and it\u2019s a supercool thing. We just wanted to end up first and second at the Worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did I come back? First I needed a good ass-whipping. In Hy\u00e8res this year I got beaten pretty badly, so that triggered me to step it up and make sure I was going to comeback strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Badloe concurred. \u201cWell, like Dorian said, I think we\u2019re having more fun than anybody else,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re putting in the hard work but most of all keeping the fun in it, and that\u2019s what has eventually got us up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s RS:X is one of those fleets that reinforces the fact that a world title is often harder to win than an Olympic one, with so many more talented sailors fighting for every point.<\/p>\n

The medal races have riveting, played in front of packed stadium crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving racing just off the front with a packed grandstand, coupled with big screens and digital applications such as the SAP Sailing Analytics has helped the audience to really understand what\u2019s going on and dive deep into the action,\u201d Andersen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City of Aarhus has really put on a world class show, which we always knew they would do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorldwide, the media footprint of this event has been quite significant. We\u2019ve broken previous broadcasting records and we\u2019re on track to achieve more viewers of the sport at a World Championships than we\u2019ve ever had before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s ability to stage events of this scale has not gone unnoticed and Thomas Bach, the IOC president, noted it on his visit last Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenmark has really established it as one of the hubs for world-class sports organisation,\u201d Bach said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve noticed. Just this year, Denmark is hosting three world championships. Aside from sailing, there\u2019s been ice hockey and triathlon in Denmark and there\u2019s more on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenmark has proven to be a world-class organiser. No-one in the sporting world could have any doubts that Denmark could organise a fantastic Olympic Games, organisationally and logistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sustainability has also been at the core of these Championships and Bach said: \u201cI think it\u2019s remarkable that World Sailing, Aarhus and Denmark have built programmes with regard to sustainability. This is a benchmark project for these kind of World Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

From small acorns these World Championships have grown strong through the kind of partnerships that bind sailors together across the clubs of Denmark. People and institutions have come to together for a greater purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese World Championships have been even better than we had hoped and prepared for,\u201d Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, said. \u201cFrom the racing, to our incredible 1,100 volunteers, to the spectators lining the harbour wall, to the benchmark-setting sustainability programme, we are very proud that Denmark has delivered. The IOC president\u2019s praise of Denmark\u2019s organisational skills was very welcome. Great sporting events are all about partnerships. Sport Event Denmark, the City of Aarhus and the Danish Sailing Federation had a vision and made it a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark and Aarhus 2018 hands on the flame to the Netherlands and The Hague 2022 in the strongest of health.
\nThey Said:<\/p>\n

Lilian de Geus \u2013 Netherlands \u2013 women\u2019s RS:X (gold)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strange feeling because I was already world champion on Friday, so we partied on Friday, but I had the medal race to do so I couldn\u2019t party too hard. It was a fun medal race, for second and third place was exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years ago, I found that my weakness was having a consistent form in competitions and I\u2019ve been improving on that by mastering my tactics and strategy early in the competition. Since then I\u2019ve noticed huge differences in my results and as you\u2019ve seen this week, it has helped me win the Worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Netherlands is a small country and there are not a lot of windsurfers, compared to China and Israel, but with the few in Netherlands we just help each other get to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yunxiu Lu \u2013 China \u2013 women\u2019s RS:X (bronze)<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning a medal here proves that our tough training, over the recent months, is paying off. My teammates made a few mistakes early in the regatta and I was the most consistent from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the top ten sailors here are the best in the world and it\u2019s challenging trying to keep up but I managed bronze here, so I am very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma Wilson \u2013 Great Britain \u2013 Women\u2019s RS:X (fourth)<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a pretty good race. I was first at the top beat, I just missed out, now it hurts but I\u2019ll go away pretty happy with fourth. I\u2019m pretty proud of how I approached it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Rijsselberghe \u2013 Netherlands \u2013 men\u2019s RS:X (gold)<\/p>\n

\u201cCompeting with Kieran is great because he keeps pushing me and together we get to a certain level that we would never exceed ourselves. We usually train in the Friesland canal, in the Netherlands. We thought it would be super fun and great experience to train there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the Worlds is just the first step on the road to Tokyo and I\u2019m happy with how it turned out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to perform at this competition and if you set your mind to certain things you can achieve it and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiran Badloe \u2013 France \u2013 Men\u2019s RS:X (silver)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m relieved that I managed to do what I intended to do. I\u2019m so happy that I\u2019ll be sharing the podium with Dorian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long week and I\u2019m so happy I come away with a medal. Me and Dorian are one and two in the world so it\u2019s an amazing feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are good friends who constantly train and have fun. The more you add fun to it, the more you enjoy it and everything else just flows. We\u2019re making the hard hours funs and that\u2019s what\u2019s paying off in the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious that we both want to go to the Olympics and we\u2019re in a unique situation where two really good windsurfers who are both capable of doing well at the Olympics, and only one of us can go. It\u2019ll be a tough battle but, in the end, the best one will go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louis Giard \u2013 France \u2013 Men\u2019s RS:X (bronze)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really close one, maybe my eyes were a bit too much on the Polish guy, last year maybe I lost the chance to be world champion, I started really well. I said to myself last night that I can\u2019t lose the chance for a medal twice in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great and I\u2019m emotional. It\u2019s my first world championship medal win so I\u2019m so happy. Finally, after 11 podium places since January 2017, I\u2019ve got a medal at the World Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a difficult race, as I expected. The offshore wind was really tricky, but I\u2019ve achieved bronze, so I\u2019m satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a strong French team. They were not in medal race this time, but I know their potential and I know that they will comeback stronger. It was my goal to finally check this off my list. This is going to give me more confidence but now I can focus on my next goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruggero Tita and Caterina Marianna Banti \u2013 Argentina \u2013 Nacra 17 (gold)<\/p>\n

Tita: \u201cWe\u2019re so happy! It\u2019s been an incredible season. We\u2019ve won so many events. I personally really like the new foiling Nacra and I think Banti can say the same. The speed and new discoveries of sailing is really interesting and the more interest I have in the boat, the better I can sail it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about training hard but most importantly, good communication between the team. You must be able to read each other.<\/p>\n

Banti: \u201cIt was a long championship. We started really well but then we dropped out a couple of spots, but during the final series, we managed to come back on top. It\u2019s a honour to the World Championship and it feels so good because of the hard work we have put in over the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been sailing together for one and a half years now. Ruggero was sailing the 49er and I was sailing the old Nacra 17, and he wanted to try the new Nacra 17 foiling, and that\u2019s when we decided to compete in it and now we have won the Worlds. We don\u2019t regret it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan and Haylee Outteridge \u2013 Australia \u2013 Nacra 17 (silver)<\/p>\n

Nathan: \u201cIt\u2019s a strange feeling not to do a medal race when you spend two days preparing for it. I think we can be really proud of what we\u2019ve achieved in the last six months. It\u2019s our third event, we were ninth at Kiel and ninth at the Europeans. It\u2019s been a big jump up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haylee: \u201cI think we were a little bit disappointed. We didn\u2019t have a whole lot to lose because we didn\u2019t expect to be on the podium, so we were ready to go for it. But silver is still beyond our expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santiago Lange \u2013 Argentina \u2013 Nacra 17 (bronze)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so easy to be able to finish a world championship without the ability to fight for gold. Congratulations to the Italians, they\u2019ve worked hard for this and they did an awesome job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sail all week to win it and when I look back at my races, it was so close on points. We were a little behind at the start of the competition and we knew that today was our chance to get win it back. We\u2019re fighters and we wanted to fight for gold, but we didn\u2019t get the chance, it\u2019s mother nature and it\u2019s the beauty of our sport, we have to accept that.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext season is also a big season for us, so we hope to get better and just continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Dutch complete double RS:X victory lap. – Picon the mother and medal, France on the rise. – \u201cI spend more time with Kiran than my wife\u201d – Van Rijsselberghe. – Great Britain qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in all ten classes. The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 drew to a close on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98,77,108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3610,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607\/revisions\/3610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.everysailrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}