Oskari Muhonen becomes first Finn to win Finn Gold Cup

Hungary’s Doma Nemeth took second. He had his chances but, in the end, finished runner up to Muhonen, only beating him in one race. However, Nemeth was the leading U23 sailor, and he took home the Finn Silver Cup, a title he has twice won before, and which Muhonen also won three times. Third place was a real battle with Italy’s Alessandro Marega winning by one point over France’s Valerian Lebrun.

Hosted by Sailing Aarhus at the fabulous Aarhus International Sailing Centre, the week started in light winds and a win for Nemeth in the only race sailed on the first day. Having led for most of the race, Muhonen crossed third after a wind change on the final downwind. It would end up his worst result of the week.

After he second day was lost with no wind and nearby storms, Aarhus started to heat up. Three races were sailed on the third day, the first in very light wind again, despite the moderate forecast. Won by former European champion Miguel Fernandez Vasco, from Spain, Muhonen crossed a very close second.

From then on it was a Finnish show. The wind filled in during the afternoon and Muhonen won both races, and then won all three on the penultimate day, twice passing Nemeth downwind.

The final day was also lost with no wind as Aarhus basked in sweltering temperatures. When it was finally abandoned for the day, Muhonen had become the first Finn to ever win the Finn Gold Cup, almost a perfect headline.

Muhonen is one of a number of former Olympic campaigners who still love sailing the boat and reappear for events when it fits in. He just missed selection for Tokyo, and as well as a former U23 World Champion, also finished second in the 2022 Finn Gold Cup.

He said, “I am obviously very happy. I had a very solid week, I raced well in the lighter winds at the beginning of the week, but also some solid racing when it got windier, so I am very happy with my racing and with how the week went.”

Coming into the event, “I was pretty confident in my downwind speed, but obviously upwind speed is always more of a question mark. I haven’t been hiking much recently and have been sailing different classes, so it was harder to say, and I also don’t have my own mast so that was a bit stiffer than I was used to sail with. But it was all right.”

On the competition. “It was really good. It’s always nice to have more than 100 boats on the start line. Aarhus is nice place to sail, with a variety of conditions but was a bit unstable at times.”

Will he defend next year, “Maybe. We’ll see.”

Marega said, “Four words; I am super happy. We had a beautiful week of sailing, and I must congratulate the others on the podium, they deserved their position and I am grateful to be sharing the podium with them. I’ll be back for Cannes, for the Europeans and for the Italian Nationals in Rimini.”

One of the more encouraging stories of the week has been the increasing number of young sailors taking part, continuing to enjoy the timeless challenge of the Finn. Nemeth, at 22 years old, won the Finn Silver Cup for the third time, however, next year the event transitions to an U29 championship, to include a wider range of sailors. In Aarhus, there were 20 sailors under 30 years old, a huge improvement in recent years and this trend is expected to continue. The young sailors have formed a close cooperation and are now actively driving what they want from the class.

Second place went to Australia’s Jack Eickmeyer, who was supported via funding from a Australian Finn Association initiative, which the class there has set up to support young sailors. They plan to send another young sailor next year, and many national associations are looking at ways to establish similar initiatives, which is very positive news. Third place went to Hungary’s Attila Svastits.

Nemeth said, “I feel really good. It was such a long regatta, and I am pretty happy. I had a bit of a hard third day, but then I managed to recover very well. Then we had an amazing day, with incredible wind and waves. Oskari was really hard to catch. I learnt a lot and I see where I can improve more, so I am pretty happy about it. I am 22 now, so looks like I have some more youth years ahead of me, so yeah, you’ll see me soon.”

Having tried a 49er campaign, he stopped as he could not lose enough weight healthily. “I am actually not as large as I was before, but I like it like this as I am fast. I would like to do more Finn sailing. I am not training that much anymore, but I am really happy how I have continued to improve my sailing by not sailing Finn, but sailing the Finn is still good for me.”

Next year the Finn Gold Cup heads back to Cascais, Portugal, for the third time.

Final results

1. FIN 8 Oskari MUHONEN 7
2. HUN 80 (U23) Domonkos NÉMETH 15
3. ITA 1103 Alessandro MAREGA 23
4. FRA 111 Valérian LEBRUN 24
5. ITA 40 Marko KOLIC 47
6. GBR 5 Cameron TWEEDLE 48
7. ESP 161 Miguel FERNÁNDEZ VASCO 51
8. NOR 5 Lars Johan BRODTKORB 52
9. GER 711 André BUDZIEN 52
10. FRA 75 Laurent HAY 59

Full results are available here.

Text and images courtesy of Robert Deaves.