France, Great Britain and Norway triumph at 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships

49er

Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros of France won the 49er European Championships by less than a point from the Polish team of Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki. The teams were effectively tied and would have meant the medal race was a winner-takes-all scenario with the top six all in contention for medals.  

However, as the wind failed to materialise, Rual and Amoros celebrated their first major victory in the 49er class. Buksak and Wierzbicki took the silver and Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie of New Zealand the bronze. 

Having led for much of the week, Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl of Austria missed the podium by just two points but managed to finish ahead of world champions Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken in fifth. 

49erFX

Norwegians Helene Næss and Marie Ronningen reclaimed their 49erFX European title, five years after winning their first. Silver went to Jana Germani and Georgia Bertuzzi of Italy, securing a nation’s place for Italy the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the process, and bronze went to Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló of Spain. 

The Norwegians secured the gold by just six points, a lead which could have easily evaporated if the double-points 10-boat final race had gone ahead.  

Despite missing out on the gold, the Italian crew did manage to secure an Olympic berth for their country. 

Germani said, “It is a great feeling to know we have done that for the country, and we are very pleased to have achieved that. Now we have to race in our national trials to see if we can be the team that goes to Paris next year.” 

An eighth-place finish for the Singaporean team of Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low will serve them well ahead of next month’s Asian Championship in Thailand where they will face some tough competition from China and Korea, amongst others, for an Olympic qualification spot. 

Newly-crowned world champions Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler from Sweden finished in 14th while 2022 world champions Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz of The Netherlands finished 7th. 

Nacra 17

The British pair of John Gimson and Anna Burnett secured Nacra 17 gold after a decisive 1,2,1,1 the day before to stay eight points clear of Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti.  

Bronze went to early event leaders Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei from Italy, a further three points back. The two Italian teams and the British were well clear of the fleet and will now spend the winter training together in Italy. 

A fourth placed finish for Lukas Haberl and Tanja Frank secured Olympic qualification for Austria, meaning that Frank has the chance to represent her country at a third Olympic Games.