Day 5: American and Italian go for gold
With 12-13kts of breeze kicking in from the south this morning, the conditions on the Clyde for the penultimate day of the Laser Radial World Youth Championship, could not have been better.
Fully powered up, the 320 competitors enjoyed the best conditions of the week as they engaged themselves in the first two of four scheduled races in the finals.
Based on their rankings from the qualifying series that has been taking place throughout the week, competitors have been re-grouped into Gold, Silver – and in the case of the Boys’ – Bronze fleets. Not surprisingly, competition is exceptionally intense through all fleets.
Erika Reineke (USA) is looking exceedingly good at this stage of the regatta in the Gold Fleet. She’s made a big impression this week scoring a string of second and first places and with another win today, there’s every chance this talented young American will walk away with the Girls’ title tomorrow. One of her closest rivals was the super-lightweight Manami Doi (JPN) but a capsize on the line in the opening race today hampered her chances. The winner of the second race today was Heidi Tenkanen (FIN). Tenkanen, who competed at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Turkey last week, and who won the opening race here earlier this week, has generally suffered in the light winds, but today’s fresher breeze suited her and she notched up her second win of the week.
Sixteen-year-old Elliot Hanson (GBR) who competed at and finished a creditable 6th overall at last week’s Laser Radial World Championship here at the same venue had a mixed day today. He sailed an impressive first race where he finished fourth but blew his chances in the second race of the day when he was black-flagged.
Overnight leader Tadeusz Kubiak from Szczecin (POL) had a poor day today. He capsized on the first run in the second race and didn’t really recover which means he’s dropped down the rankings to third behind Mitchell Kiss (USA). Giovanni Coccoluto (ITA) also had a relatively bad day but still holds an impressive 17pt lead over Kiss going into tomorrow’s final two races.
Laser Radial Youth World Championship 2010
Girls Overall after Day 5 (9 races, 8 to count)
Gold Fleet
1 Erika Reineke (USA) 12pts
2 Manami Doi (JPN) 39pts
3 Michelle Broekhuizen (NED) 43pts
4 Tiril Bue (NOR) 44pts
5 Patricia Coro Leveque (ESP) 62pts
6 Julia Vallo Arjonilla (ESP) 66pts
Silver Fleet
1 Rheanna Pavey (GBR) 138pts
2 Leon Sara Hernandez (ESP) 142pts
3 Charlott Frederike Maschke (GER) 145pts
4 Charlotte Greenhalgh (GBR) 146pts
5 Leonie Schuurmans (USA) 152pts
6 Hannah Tilley (GBR) 154pts
Boys Overall after Day 5 (8 races, 1 discard)
Gold Fleet
1 Giovanni Coccoluto (ITA) 36pts
2 Mitchell Kiss (USA) 53pts
3 Tadeusz Kubiak (POL) 60pts
4 Elliot Hanson (GBR) 66pts
5 Stefano Mazzaferro (BRA) 70pts
6 Luca Antognoli (ITA) 81pts
For full results click on the Results tab on the bar above.
Quotes:
Heidi Tenkanen (FIN): "I took a good start, got the shifts right and was leading at the first mark. From there I sailed fast and no one could catch me. In this race I really concentrated on sailing the waves correctly downwind and just extended my lead. I am out of contention now because I really would have hoped for more wind but It has been a good practice for me and I have learnt a lot which is very important.”
Tadeusz Kubiak (POL): "We had more wind today and I had capsize in the second race on the first downwind leg. I didn’t really recover and ended up with a poor result. I also had a poor start in the second race and couldn’t improve on 13th. My aim is to sail better tomorrow and try to repeat the performance of earlier in the week where I got a couple of first places.”
Giovanni Coccoluto (ITA): "I was third at the ISAF Youth World Championship last week, so I feel I am in good form but today was not a good day for me. I could have finished the first race in the top 10 but I got the second beat wrong. Tomorrow, I am looking for an overall win because I feel I am very much in contention.”
Elliot Hanson (GBR): "Having had a great first race and a good result I was flying" a bit too much it seems. I was a bit over eager on the start and pushed it too far, which ended in disaster for me. It’s always a tricky one because you need to push it, but it’s such a fine line. I can discard one race from the finals but it means I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
24/7/2010 18:03
