August 17, 2023
2 minutes reading time
470 gold and bronze for Japan, silver for Spain
With Keiji Okada and Miho Yoshioka having already secured the gold medal for Japan, their participation in the 470 Mixed medal race was a formality.
The tussle for silver and bronze was the battle to watch, with five crews in contention for the lower steps of the podium.
After a multi-boat wrestle for the favoured left-hand end of the start line, Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman were fastest out of the blocks and made the early running. Their start-line bravado rewarded the Spanish with first place around the first turning mark as Xammar and Brugman put their legendary downwind prowess into action. Pumping the sails and throwing their bodyweight into propelling the boat at full speed in the rolling waves and 12 knot breeze, the Spanish looked ever more likely to secure the silver medal.
Pulling up into second place on the downwind leg behind the Spanish were the German husband and wife team, Malte and Anastasiya Winkel, who were winning the battle for bronze ahead of the other podium contenders from Israel, Austria and Japan.
Up the second windward leg the Israeli team took their chances on the right-hand side of the course nearer to Scheveningen Beach. Nitai Hasson and Noa Lasry (ISR) launched themselves into the lead thanks to a big right-hand wind shift. With an outside shot at a medal the Israel crew were doing all they could to work themselves towards the podium.
Israel rounding the final top mark in first place was just one example of how the pack had been completely reshuffled. The Winkel team had dropped from second to last place, although the Spanish had done enough to keep themselves in silver medal position despite losing the race lead.
Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki (JPN) had also profited from going further right on the final windward leg and rounded the final turning mark in third place and up into the bronze medal position. The places kept on changing on the last blast downwind with just a few points separating six teams still in contention for bronze. But it was Isozaki and Seki that did just enough to claim bronze.
So double joy for Japan with gold and bronze medals, and silver for the Spanish, Xammar and Brugman repeating their runner-up position from the 2022 Worlds.
Okada was pleased with the new boat they had launched for this championship. “I think our boat speed is very good. Downwind today it was a bit shifty and a little bit light but that was good for us.” Yoshioka was delighted with their performance. “I’m so happy,” she grinned. “Ichiban! [No.1].”