Garda Trentino Olympic Week - EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup Overall
by Elena Giolai / Sandro Pellegrini 13 May 2013 10:59 BST
8-12 May 2013
A spectacular conclusion to the first leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup "Garda Trentino Olympic Week". Sunshine, wind and the best Olympic athletes in the final race, never as on this occasion has the "final race" determined the places on the podium, despite the number of races held during the week.
New Zealander Maloney (Laser Standard), Murphy of Ireland (women's Laser Radial), Wright of G.B. (Finn), Croatians Fantela-Marenic (men's 470), Aleh-Powrie of New Zealand, Austrians Zajak-Frank (Nacra 17), Hansen-Porebski of New Zealand (49er), Flavia Tartaglini of Italy (RS:X) and dutch Van Rijssellberge (RS:X M)
The first leg of the Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup, Garda Trentino Olympic Week, came to a close today after 5 days of great sailing with the participation of around 30 Olympic athletes including medal winners for a total of 400 sailors from 43 countries including Malaysia, Argentina, Mexico, USA,New Zealand, Australia and for the first time Oman. The competitors were able to complete a high number of races on the waters of Lake Garda thanks to the ideal wind conditions guaranteed in this little corner of sailing paradise, (from 10am-16.00 depending on the class with light to medium winds).
The new experimental format of short regattas proposed by Eurosaf was adopted, with points realigned before the final race and a restricted number of crews in the grand final. 8 for the 49er and 6 for all the others.
The last day with the final race for each class (formally medal race), was fantastic to say the least with sun, winds from the south at 10-14 knots and for enthusiasts the chance to see the finals from Lake Garda's coastal road. The 470 and 49er classes were transmitted on direct web filmed from high up to give the effect,even on the pc, of being in the natural theatre of Lake Garda. One final race was held for each class except for the 49er which had three giving the eight qualifying crews the largest margin to catch up.
With the start of the European Olympic season under Eurosaf, thanks to the organisation by Vela Garda Trentino- the association of Upper Garda sailing clubs Fraglia Vela Riva, Circolo Vela Arco, Circolo Surf Torbole, Circolo Vela Torbole and Fraglia Vela Malcesine, the European Champions Sailing Cup will now continue for another 4 legs. The next leg is scheduled Medemblik (The Netherlands), for the Delta Lloyd Regatta from May 21st -25th. Then it goes to Great Britain (Sail for Gold Regatta, Weymouth), Germany (Kieler Woche at Kiel) and finishing in October in France for the "Semaine Francaise".
Men's 470 Finals:
1° CRO 83 Fantela-Marenic 1-1
2° ESP 9 Barrieros-Curbelo 2-3
3° TUR 1 Cinar-Cinar 5-2
This was the first time the 470 class had run its final race on the "Theatre" course which is marked out by small buoys. This was another experiment which won the consensus of the athletes who for the first time had to stay inside a marked and very restricted regatta course.
There were no rivals for the multi European Champion Croatians who have three bronze World Championship medals, a gold in 2009 and who placed 6th in London 2012. Leading right from the first day they well-deserved to win this edition of Garda Trentino Olympic Week, showing skill and consistency right up to the final race. Second place is confirmed for Barrieros-Curbelo of Spain. (Barrieros was 11th at the London games). They came third in the final race but climbed to second overall on points. There was a great comeback, however, for Turkish Olympians Deniz and Ates Cinar who were 5th going into today's final race but finished second in the final to push them into third overall. Dropping from third to fifth were Germans Gerz-Follmann.
Women's 470 Finals:
1° NZL 75 Aleh-Powrie 2-1
2° SLO 64 Mrak-Macarol 1-2
3° ITA 52 Komatar-Carraro 4-3
Change of leaders in the women's 470 with Olympic Champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powbrie of New Zealand giving a decisive push in the last race even though Mral-Macarol of Slovenia had been leading until yesterday. Climbing into third place on the podium were Italians Francesca Komatar and Sveva Carraro, who took advantage of an error made by Decnop-Swan of Brazil.
Finn Finals:
1° GBR 11 Wright 1-3
2° CRO 524 Kijakovic 3-2
3° POL 17 Kula 6-1
A spectacular final race took place at Fraglia Vela Malcesine for the Finn class. The race lasted around 20 minutes with winds from the south from 9-10 knots with a large representation of Olympic athletes. European Finn Champion and winner of the Finn Gold Cup 2010, Ed Wright of G.B won the event. He went into the final race with a 15 point lead over Karpak of Estonia who came 4th overall. Second place went to Kijakovic of Croatia, (5th at the London Olympics, two times European Champion and third in the 2009 Gold Cup). Kula of Poland was third climbing from 6th place thanks to a win in the final race. Italian Baldassari (Fiamme Gialle), who came into the final in 4th place, dropped to 6th overall.
Men's RS:X Finals:
1° NED 8 Van Rijsselberge 1-1
2° HKG 2 Leung 3-3
3° ITA 2 Baglione 6-2
The final race confirmed Dutch Olympic Champion Dorian Van Rijsselberge as the winner in the men's RS:X by a margin of 4 points. Leung of Hong Kong climbed from third to second place while Italian Marcantonio Baglione (Albaria), came in third thanks to a second place in the final race. A bad race instead for Carney of G.B who dropped from second to fifth place.
Women's RS:X Finals:
1° ITA 46 Tartaglini 2-1
2° GBR 94 Shaw 1-3
3° HKG 5 Chan Hei Man 3-2
It was a great comeback for Flavia Tartaglini (Fiamme Gialle) who took first place by winning the final race and knocking Shaw of G.B (bronze in the Olympics at Quindgao and 5th in London), who finished second. For Flavia it was a test of character confirming her competitive status after her win at the Palma World Cup and 4th place at Hyeres. An excellent performance from Veronica Fanciulli (LNI Civitavecchia), World Youth Isaf Champion 2011 and World RS:X under 17 in 2010 as well as World Techno 293 Champion in 2009, by racing against the top names in the sport shows determination despite her young age.
Laser Standard Finals:
1° NZL Maloney 5-1
2° FRA Bernaz 4-3
3° AUS Palk 3-4
In the Laser Standard there was a classic 'upset' with the with the final victory going, however to excellent New Zealander Andy Maloney who secured his gold thanks to a win in the final race. Climbing from 5th in the qualification to come in third was Australian Ryan Palk who came behind Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernaz, (10th at London 2012). Tonci Stipanovic placed 4th and Australian Tom Burton had to settle for fifth after dominating all week. He slipped on the last step in the final race. He commented " So much effort for nothing, a bit too much for this new formula which I hope is still experimental". Finishing off the standings is Daniel Mihelic of Croatia.
Laser Radial (Women's) Finals:
1° IRL Murphy 1-1
2° FIN Tenkanen 3-2
3° CRO Mihelic 2-3
In the Women's Laser Radial class Annalise Murphy confirmed the position she had held all week by winning the final race beating Tuula Tenkanen of Finland who climbed one position at the expense of Tina Mihelic of Croatia. Cagla Donertas came 4th, Heidi Tenkanen of Finland 5th (2 sisters in the same final is already an achievement), and Tatiana Drozdovska of Belarus 6th. She was 15th in London, Donertis 29th, Mihelic 17th and the winner Murphy 4th. Another record with 4 Olympic sailors among the 6 competitors.
49er Finals:
1° NZL 6 Hansen-Porebski 3-4-2-2
2° FRA 114 Frei-Rocherieux 6-1-4-3
3° ITA 1126 Angilella-Zucchetti 5-2-3-5
Yet another partial upset in the Olympic 49er skiff where the final race was fought out over two races. Consistency won the day as New Zealanders Markus Hansen and Josh Porescki notched up two second places to spring them from 4th position to the gold medal place in Garda Trentino Olympic Week 2013. There was a wonderful breeze from the "Ora" the classic afternoon wind that blows on Lake Garda. It was transmitted on direct web from south of Riva near the Ponale tunnel. The French Frei-Rocherieux were second with the bronze medal going to the Italian duo Giuseppe Angilella (Lauria di Palermo) and Pietro Zucchetti (Fiamme Gialle). Angilella with Sibello finished 9th in London while Zucchetti placed 4th at the bow of the 470 with Gabrio Zandonà. The two got together again on the 49er after their Olympic campaign for Beijing 2008 when they were the adversaries of the Sibello "brothers". The Austrian team of " BMW Sport" with Niko DelleKart and Niko Leopold Resch took 4th place as they did in London. The pair had compromised everything in the second leg of the final when they finished 7th after winning the first race, as well as being first in qualifying. Others in the standings were D'Ortoli-Delpech of France, youngsters Jacopo Plazzi and Umberto Molineris of Fraglia Vela Riva and 8th Wagmaister- Correa of Argentina.
NACRA 17 Finals:
1° AUT 35 Zajac-Frank 1-2
2° AUS 36 Waterhouse 3-1
3° ITA 37 Bissaro-SIcouri 4-3
In the mixed catamaran class Austrians Thomas Zajak and Tanja Frank won. They were first in qualifying and second in the grand final. The pair are trained by Italian Angelo Glisoni, Olympic skipper and World Champion with the cat of the Olympics, the Tornado. Glisoni is involved in an interesting training programme with the Austrian team which sees them training in the sea at Palma, Majorca. " The work started this winter and we are already seeing results"- said Glisoni- "Now after Garda we will be at Medemblik in The Netherlands in the next few weeks. We couldn't pass up the chance of asking his opinion on the final day formula. "A little too much riding on one result and one race. All the placings and wins achieved in a week of racing are literally thrown away." In second place were Australians Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, while the bronze medal went to Vittorio Bissaro (Fraglia Vela Malcesine) and Silvia Sicouri.
Full overall results can be found here.