Polish pair shine on opening day of Youth Sailing World Championships

Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska (POL) were the standout performers on the opening day of the Youth Sailing World Championships in Brazil.

The Polish pair won all three of their races in the 29er Female class to make a dream start to Buzios 2023.

There was also plenty to celebrate for the home crowd, with Joana Faulhaber Tostes Antunes Gonç and Gabriela Vassel impressing in the 420 Female class to lead the way on day one.

Elsewhere, Karl Devaux and Hugo Revil (FRA) picked up a pair of bullets to lead the 29er Male/Mixed, while Merve Vatan (TUR) also won twice in the iQFOiL Youth & Junior Female.

29er Female

A near-flawless opening day on the water fired Lewandowska and Maria Żmudzińska to the top of the 29er female standings.

The Polish pair won all three races to establish an early six-point lead over Fleur Babin and Sarah Jannin (FRA), with Laura Hamilton and Carolina Zager (USA) a further two points back despite a black flag in the opening race.

Lewandowska and Żmudzińska took victory in race one ahead of Annabelle Vines and Madeline Bilbrough (GBR) and Juana Rother and Victoria Vanney (ARG).

But few pairs were able to establish any real consistency, with Babin and Jannin’s pair of fourth-place finishes enough to see them second overall.

Race two saw Boróka and Szonja Fehér (HUN) and Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey (IRL) come closest, before Marleen Huisman and Anne de Kort (NED) and Malika Bellomi and Beatrice Conti (ITA) were the nearest challengers in the final race, but none could come close to the Polish duo.

“We had a really great day,” said Lewandowska. “They were all quite similar, we just went with the shifts and did our best.”

29er Male/Mixed

A pair of victories handed Devaux and Revil (FRA) the overnight lead in the 29er Male/Mixed class.

The French duo, who won the event in 2021, earned bullets in the day’s second and third races to end the day with a 12-point lead at the top of the standings after finishing fifth in the opening race.

Mateo and Simon Codoñer Alemany (ESP) took the day’s first victory but found themselves unable to repeat the trick to end the day ninth overall.

Devaux and Revil’s nearest challengers are Guilherme and Fernando Prazeres Menezes (BRA), who finished second in the first two races and are intent on leveraging home advantage going forward.

“We had a great day,” said Guilherme. “The wind was shifting a lot, there were a lot of waves but we did our best. The first two races the wind was on the right side so we got the right direction.

“There are a lot of people that we know here, a lot of people are cheering for us and it is a boost for us.”

Completing the early top three are South American neighbours Argentina, as Benjamin Rodriguez Moron and Calixo Varela registered top five finishes in all three races.

420 Female

Faulhaber Tostes Antunes Gonç and Vassel (BRA) shone on home waters to win both races in the 420 Female class.

The Brazilian team picked up the minimum two points to lead by three points from Kerkezou Iakovina and Giannouli Danai (GRE), who finished second in race two ahead of Maria Perello Mora and Marta Cardona Alcantara (ESP).

The Greeks finished third in race one behind Callie Hammond and Ava Stevens (USA), with a seventh-place finish in the second race enough to see the American pair third overall after the first day of sailing.

420 Male/Mixed

Italy’s Quan Cardi and Mattia Tognocchi took the early lead in the 420 Male/Mixed class after the pair followed up victory in the opening race with a third-place finish in the second.

A nervy start to the morning saw a smattering of black flags, but the Italian duo were able to steer clear of the competition to finish ahead of Spain’s Miguel Angel Morales Hernandez and Alejandro Martin, who sit second overall after finishes of second and fourth.

They sit six points ahead of Dimitrios and Nikolaos Sourlatzis (GRE) and Lucas Cocchi Kubelka de Freitas and Victória Kubelka de Carlos Back (BRA), who sit tied on 14 points.

The Greek duo bounced back from a 12th-place finish in the opener to finish second in race two, behind only Jean-Philippe Boudard and Zou Schemmel (FRA), who sit 13th after suffering a black flag in the first race of the day.

“It was a straight day, we tried to do our best and we did it,” said Tognocchi. “We are so happy.”

ILCA 6 Female

Croatia’s Petra Marendic leads the way in the ILCA 6 female class thanks to two top four finishes.

Marendic came second in race one, which saw a number of sailors pick up black flags and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the second.

It sees her sit two points ahead of Sienna Wright (IRL) and a further one in front of Emma Mattivi (ITA), who claimed victory in the opening race.

Race two saw Peru’s Sophie Zimmerman clinch the win, but she sits 22nd in the current standings after picking up the maximum 46 points in race one following disqualification.

“It was a nice day on the water,” said Wright. “The wind was pretty nice, the waves were quite choppy and there was quite a big swell out there but the wind was up and down all day.”

ILCA 6 Male

A pair of third-place finishes guided Hidde Schraffordt (NED) to the top of the ILCA 6 male standings after the first day of sailing.

Sullivan Nakatsu (CAN) earned victory in race one, with João Pontes (POR) finishing second, but the Canadian sits second overall after a ninth-place finish in race two.

That was won by Mattia Cesana (ITA), who responded well from an 18th-place finish in the opener to edge out Felipe Mallmann Fraquelli (BRA).

Cesana sits fourth in the early standings, with Switzerland’s Boris Hirsch in third after finishes of seventh and tenth respectively.

“I feel great,” said Schraffordt. “I went into this day not knowing what would happen having trained all winter but it turned out to be quite good.”

iQFOiL Youth & Junior Male

Noé Garandeau (FRA) sits atop the iQFOiL Youth & Junior Male standings, just one point ahead of Stanislaw Trepczyński (POL) after a thrilling first day of racing.

The Frenchman opened the day well with a second-place finish in race one as David Mazais (LAT) took victory but bettered that in races two and three with a pair of bullets.

Trepeczyński also registered just a pair of points from races two and three, with Garandeau a single point ahead after the first day’s racing after the Pole finished third in race four.

The day’s final race saw Leonardo Tomasini (ITA) and Val Erzen (SLO) pick up bullets, with both sailors three points off the top in third and fourth respectively.

iQFOiL Youth & Junior Female

Merve Vatan (TUR) bookended her day with victories to take the early lead in the iQFOiL Youth & Junior Female class.

Vatan opened the day with victory but failed to start race two as Sophia Elina Meyer (GER) took the win.

But the Turkish sailor bounced back to finish fifth in race three before clinching her second victory in the day’s final race.

Vatan edged out Kristyna Pinosova, who posted back-to-back second place finishes in the last two races to rise to third after failing to finish the opening race.

Darcey Shaw (GBR) took victory in race three and sits fourth overall, with Italy’s Carola Colasanto the closest challenger to Vatan thanks to a three top four finishes.

Nacra 15 Mixed

Victory in the final race of the day propelled Cody Roe and Brooke Mertz (USA) to the top of the Nacra 15 standings.

The American duo bettered their earlier finishes of second and fourth to close out the day with a win and climb above Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa (ESP) in the early standings.

The Spanish pair finished first and second in the day’s opening two races before finishing sixth in the third, meaning they sit just ahead of Samson Litkey and Naia Nathalie Katinka Dardenne (HUN) after they posted two fourth-place finishes either side of victory in race two.