Johan Molund och Sebastian Östling gick bäst av de två svenskbåtarna när Guldfinalen inleddes på onsdagen i danska Århus. En tredje plats i första seglingen följdes dock upp med en 29:e plats i de svårseglade vindarna. Molund/Östling ligger tolva (8:a i EM) och tre poäng från en topp tio och 10 poäng från en medaljplacering i EM. Anton Dahlberg och Fredrik Bergström placerade sig på 18 och 21 i de inledande finalseglingarna och ligger tolva i EM och 19 i tävlingen. Gerz/Szymanski, Tyskland, gick förbi Mcanzy/Hughes, USA, i sammandraget. Pavel Sozykin Denis Gribanov, Ryssland, ligger trea. Luke Patience Elliot Willis, Storbritannien, har just nu EM-bronsmedaljplats som femma i tävlingen.
(Eng) Another unpredictable and challenging race track with the breeze nudging 7 knots at best, in conditions that benefited the light wind specialists. Two races were completed for all fleets. The heat is on here in Aarhus, Denmark – as teams are pushed to raise their game and an intense sun beats down on the race track.
Ferdinand Gerz/Oliver Szymanski (GER) are firmly in the lead as the only 470 men team to count an all top ten scoreline. A win in the opening race of gold fleet racing pushed them up to second overall, and their 5th place in the next race secured their position at the front. The pair also have a card to play, as their discard race is an 11th, whereas every other team in the top 10 is already discarding a double-digit score and counting a double-digit score. So whilst the Germans will not be looking to make any mistakes, they know they hold a useful safety net.
“We are super happy,” said Gerz. “It was very, very difficult today as the wind was really light. But we finally managed somehow to read the pressure on the water quite good.”
In the fickle breeze, strategy was all important. “We had two good strategic decisions in the first race on the upwind. In the first race we were going to the left after a bad start, like really far left, which brought us first to the top mark already. And then we were able to keep this advantage until the finish, and we had a good lead. In the second race we were a bit in a pack close to the pin end boat. Then after the start we were forced to tack to the right and we soon saw that pressure on the right started to increase, and on the left decrease. So we changed plan and stuck right.
“There’s still a long way to go, with 4 final races and a medal race,” acknowledged Gerz. “Until now our scoreline is incredibly good, but we will try to focus on each race and do our best every moment.
“It’s extremely exciting racing here with the tricky breeze. The game is never over and even if you are back in the pack at the beginning of the race, you still know that there’s everything to gain. On the other hand it makes life for the leading boats quite difficult, especially on the downwind, as sometimes you have to wait for the pressure, which the boats behind you already have. But it’s good. We have been training here the past week before the Europeans to try to figure out something and so far it has worked quite well.”
Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA) drop to 2nd overall, with Pavel Sozykin/Denis Gribanov (RUS) in 3rd. Defending 470 European Champions Luke Patience/Elliot Willis (GBR) climb up to 5th overall, edging closer to the front of the fleet.
Mat Belcher/Will Ryan’s domination of the 470 fleet has been all consuming, and understandably some expect them to consistently be at the front of the fleet in each race.
“I think it just shows the company we are in and the conditions we have here,” said Belcher in reference to their 24th place finish today. “It makes it a level field, as it is flat water, extremely shifty and today’s races had significant shifts on the first beat which ultimately determines the entire race. You can see some big names, guys like the Croatians, Greek, British, Kiwis and us back in the fleet. It just shows you that it is really tough conditions and quite variable and everyone is just struggling a little bit, but that’s part of racing, it is the same for everyone.”
“Today’s definitely not my day to go to the casino!” laughed Ryan. “It was pretty tricky out there. The last two days have been really physical from a crew’s perspective, just on the limit of the open pumping rule. But today it was a bit more of a finesse game. It’s hard to pick and once the cards get dealt, it is hard to respond to it. You just have to deal with it as best you can and claw back as best you can. It is tricky racing and we have four races to go still, so plenty of opportunities that’s for sure.”
The Australians’ 24th result is discarded, and they advance into the leaderboard top 10, along with Antonio Rosa/Joao Rosa (POR) and Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion (FRA), whose overall positions also improved.
| Rank | Rank | Country | Sail | Helm | Crew | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 | F1 | F2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  |
GER-10 | Ferdinand Gerz | Oliver Szymanski | 5 | 1 | (11) | 5 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 24 | |||
| 2nd |  |
USA-1713 | Stuart Mcnay | David Hughes | 2 | 2 | 2 | (31 BFD) | 3 | 5 | 22 | 36 | |||
| 3rd |  |
RUS-5 | Pavel Sozykin | Denis Gribanov | 1 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | (16) | 37 | |||
| 4th |  |
JPN-12 | Tetsuya Matsunaga | Yugo Yoshida | 11 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 | (23) | 11 | 38 | |||
| 5th |  |
GBR-868 | Luke Patience | Elliot Willis | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 13 | (17) | 43 | |||
| 6th |  |
GRE-1 | Panagiotis Mantis | Pavlos Kagialis | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 1 | (27) | 14 | 43 | |||
| 7th |  |
ARG-7 | Lucas Calabrese | Juan De La Fuente | 5 | 14 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 2 | (26) | 43 | |||
| 8th |  |
POR-7 | António Rosa | João Rosa | 8 | 7 | (15) | 12 | 1 | 15 | 4 | 47 | |||
| 9th |  |
FRA-27 | Sofian Bouvet | Jérémie Mion | 11 | 15 | 4 | (18) | 9 | 9 | 1 | 49 | |||
| 10th |  |
AUS-11 | Mathew Belcher | Will Ryan | 4 | 20 | 12 | 3 | 2 | (24) | 9 | 50 | |||
| 11th | |
GER-55 | Jasper Wagner | Dustin Baldewein | 1 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 8 | (24) | 53 | |||
| 12th |  |
SWE-348 | Johan Molund | Sebastian Östling | 3 | 3 | 16 | 23 | 5 | 3 | (29) | 53 | |||
| 13th |  |
TUR-1 | Deniz Cinar | Ates Cinar | 2 | 5 | 8 | (31 BFD) | 9 | 25 | 7 | 56 | |||
| 14th | |
JPN-11 | KAZUTO DOI | KIMIHIKO IMAMURA | 9 | 11 | (18) | 13 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 60 | |||
| 15th |  |
NZL-2 | Paul Snow-Hansen | Daniel Willcox | 4 | 5 | 3 | (31 BFD) | 4 | 19 | 27 | 62 | |||
| 16th |  |
KOR-113 | Changju Kim | Jihoon Kim | 17 | 15 | 9 | 1 | (20) | 16 | 6 | 64 | |||
| 17th | |
GRE-165 | Panagotis Kampouridis | Efstathios Papadopoulos | 10 | 8 | 14 | 17 | 13 | (22) | 3 | 65 | |||
| 18th | |
POR-10 | João Villas Boas | Miguel Nunes | (21) | 13 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 65 | |||
| 19th | |
SWE-349 | Anton Dahlberg | Fredrik Bergström | 7 | 6 | (31 BFD) | 11 | 3 | 18 | 21 | 66 | |||
| 20th |  |
ESP-9 | Onán Barreiros Rodríguez | Juan Curbelo Cabrera | 17 | 9 | 3 | (21) | 8 | 14 | 15 | 66 |
Damerna
| Rank | Country | Sail | HelmName | CrewName | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 | F1 | F2 | Nett | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | |
NZL-75 | Jo Aleh | Polly Powrie | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | (5) | 13 | |||
| 2nd | |
FRA-9 | Camille Lecointre | Helene Defrance | 3 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | (12) | 25 | |||
| 3rd | |
JPN-3 | Akiyo Yamaguchi | Eri Hatayama | 7 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | (13) | 27 | |||
| 4th | |
GER-24 | Nadine Boehm | Ann-Christin Goliass | 4 | (18) | 6 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 28 | |||
| 5th |  |
SLO-64 | Tina Mrak | Veronika Macarol | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 3 | (25 DSQ) | 30 | |||
| 6th | |
GER-72 | Annika Bochmann | Marlene Steinherr | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 5 | (20) | 6 | 34 |
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