Allianz Sailing World Championships: Home favourites thrive as Swedes impress

The duo have opened up a lead thanks to a near perfect day, but the best performance of all came in the 49erFX where Sweden’s Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler recorded three bullets.

Italian duo Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti remain the pair to beat in the Nacra 17, and Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka maintained control of the Mixed 470.

Elsewhere, Heiko Kroger and French pair Ange Margaron and Olivier Ducruix are still unbeaten in the 2.4m Norlin OD and the RS Venture Keel respectively.

49er

After a solid showing on the first day of competition, defending world champions Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken showed their class with two wins and a second place in the yellow fleet.

That was enough to open a five-point lead at the top of the leaderboard for the crew who are looking to make it a hat-trick of world titles after success in 2021 and 2022.

With recent wins at the Allianz Regatta and the Paris 2024 Test Event in Marseille, the Dutch are clearly the team to beat in the class and are starting to stretch clear.

Lukasz Przybytek and Jacek Piasecki (POL) are their closest rivals, having finished fourth or better in each of their last five races in the red fleet, with 2018 world champions Sime and Mihovil Fantela (CRO) a further five points back in third.

French pair Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros were the other standout performers on the day, with two bullets in the blue fleet to move to seventh overall.

49erFX

Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler (SWE) have had far from the ideal build-up to this regatta but it does not appear to be slowing them down at all.

Between a back injury for Netzler, which was followed by a knee problem for Bobeck, they have spent more time out of the water than on it, but still managed to record three bullets in a day for the very first time.

Having entered the day level at the top of the leaderboard with Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts (BEL) and Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine (AUS), the Swedes have now taken a six-point lead through six races.

And even in conditions that suit their style, Bobeck admitted their results have come as a surprise.

She said: “We had a really good day. I don’t think we’ve ever had three bullets in a day before, I think it’s the first time. It feels really good.

“We haven’t sailed so much this year so we have very few sailing hours together, especially in the lead-up to this event. So we weren’t sure how we would go.

“Earlier this year, Rebecca had a back injury that kept her out of the water from February until late May. On the last day of the finals at the Test event, I injured my knee which took out the training camp in the lead-up to this Worlds so we’ve been good at re-planning this year.

“We keep reminding ourselves to do the simple stuff right and not take any big risks. We are trying to keep the scores low during the qualifiers and that will put us in a good position going into the final.”

The Belgian and Australian duos are still the nearest challengers, both sitting on 12 points, while Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz (NED) continue to battle injury issues of their own back in 11th.

Nacra 17

Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti are still in complete control of the Nacra 17 even if they were beaten for the first time in the competition.

Laila van der Meer and Bjarne Bouwer (NED) won the first race of the day in the yellow fleet, with the Italian pair second, but the Olympic champions then responded by winning the next two to consolidate top spot, with Banti admitting that the home team had impressed them so far.

She said: “This is what we expected, we knew we were fast in these conditions. The young Dutch team were fast, they are looking really good.”

They hold a two-point lead over Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer (GER), who added another bullet in the blue fleet, just getting the better of Finland’s Sinem Kurtbay and Akseli Keskinen, who had won the first race of the day to move up to fifth.

Kurtbay said: “The first two races were very solid. We had opportunities to win both of them but then the Germans got the second one, they got it on the finish line.

“It’s the World Championships so it’s fun to race and challenge the top teams. I feel like we are fast but I think there is still so much more that we can do.”

Mixed 470

Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka (JPN) continue to lead the way in the Mixed 470, thanks to a good performance in the opening race of the day.

A second bullet in four races puts them in early control on six points, with Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson now up to second after some improved performances in the blue fleet.

A pair of third-place finishes moved them to 11 points, while just two points split the crews in third and tenth, all waiting to pounce should Okada and Yoshioka falter.

2.4 Norlin OD

Heiko Kroger (GER) won two races from two on the first day of sailing, both times beating the same Italian rival, and it was a similar story once more.

This time around, the nine-time world champion bested Antonio Squizzato rather than Davide di Maria, but the end result was the same as he continues to dominate the class.

Squizzato and Di Maria are currently in a battle for silver but will need to find a way to better Kroger if they are to hope for any more.

RS Venture Connect

As with Kroger, Ange Margaron and Olivier Ducruix are perfect through two days of racing in the RS Venture Connect, although their overall lead is much slimmer.

While they have run away with the yellow fleet, winning four from four, a tight battle in the blue fleet means that both Pedro Reis and Guilherme Ribeiro (POR) and Pau Homar Munar and Roman Gutierrez Alcantara (ESP) sit just a point back on four points apiece.

The Iberian crews split the two races in the blue fleet, the Spaniards taking the first before finishing second to their Portuguese rivals in the second.

Men’s Hansa 303

Poland’s Piotr Cichocki bounced back from fifth in the first race of the day in the Men’s Hansa 303 with a bullet in the second to maintain top spot on the leaderboard.

His margin for error remains small, with Japan’s Takumi Niwa just two points back while Rory McKinna is up to third thanks to a bullet in the first race.

Women’s Hansa 303

Cichocki’s training partner Olga Gornas-Grudzien matched her compatriot’s efforts as she moved into top spot in the Women’s Hansa 303 with two bullets.

That matched the performance of Betsy Alison (USA) on Friday, with the pair level on four points, seven clear of the rest of the field.

For more news from the Allianz Sailing World Championships, please visit our dedicated event website: https://thehague2023.sailing.org/