Vilamoura Shines As 2021 470 Worlds Spotlight

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Spanish, French and Israeli crews top the rankings early on at the 470 World Championship in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Three races were sailed in all three fleets on the opening day, as 76 teams from 24 nations competed across the Men's, Women's and Mixed events.

And three teams who stood on the podium at the 2019 World Championship have made a blistering start to the regatta.

In the Men's fleet, Jordi Xammar & Nicolás Rodríguez (ESP) stormed into overall first with a race win and a second place, discarding a seventh from their second race of the day.

But following closely behind are Anton Dahlberg & Fredrik Bergström (SWE) who took the win in that second race, finishing fourth in Race 1 and discarding a fifth from Race 3.









Both the Spaniards (silver) and the Swedes (bronze) won medals at the last 470 Worlds in Enoshima, 2019, and are regular podium-sitters at major regattas.

The 2019 world champions, Mat Belcher & Will Ryan (AUS) are not competing at Vilamoura and are unable to defend their title.

In third place so far at the 2021 Worlds are Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis (GRE), bronze medallists at Rio 2016, who have scored a third, fourth and 13th (discarded) here so far. American duo Stuart McNay & David Hughes took the third and final race win of Day 1.









Over in the Women's fleet, Camille Lecointre & Aloïse Retornaz (FRA) also lead the way with three points, after taking a first and a second and discarding a 12th.

The French duo finished third at the 2019 Worlds but are hotly-tipped for success at Tokyo 2020, having won gold at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event in 2019.

Defending world champions Hannah Mills & Eilidh McIntyre (GBR) are down in 11th, after a second place in Race 1 was followed by a 22nd (discarded) and 16th.

In second overall after Day 1 are Silvia Mas & Patricia Cantero (ESP), who won Race 2 and also finished fifth and eighth (discarded), while Elena Berta & Bianca Caruso (ITA) sit in third with an 11th (discarded), fourth and fifth.

German team Luise Wanser & Anastasiya Winkel won the final race of the day in the Women's fleet, but are 10th overall.

Ahead of the 470's switch to one Mixed event at Paris 2024, a strong Mixed fleet of 20 teams are also competing at this year's Worlds.

Gil Cohen & Noam Homri of Israel already have a decent advantage with two points overall, following two wins and a sixth (discarded).

Two British teams occupy second and third overall so far; Freya Black & Marcus Tressler on five points, and Amy Seabright & James Taylor on six points.

Racing continues throughout this week, and further information can be found at 2021worlds.470.org

Results

[El Capitan]

Vilamoura sure has gotten popular in recent times,
Looks like a great venue, anybody been there in person?

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Swedes Israeli's And Spaniards Lead In 470 Worlds



On a day with perfect wind conditions for the practice of the sport in Vilamoura, Portugal, the Swedish duo Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström keep the leadership of the men's competition with 9 races already completed.








The Portuguese sailors Pedro and Diogo Costa climbed today to the 2nd place in the overall classification of the World Championship in the 470 class that takes place in Vilamoura, Portugal, until Saturday.

The duo won 1 of the 2 races of the day and their good performance in the other one allowed them to rise once again one place in the classification and increase forder the distance to the main opponents for the only Olympic spot.

"It's a special moment because it was the first time we won a race at a World Championship. It was a difficult day, the first upwind we sailed well, we made a mistake in the first mark, but the rest of the race was consistent and went well" said the Portuguese crew at the end of the day.

The Spanish duo Jordi Xammar and Nicolas Rodriguez, current leaders of the World Sailing ranking, and vice world champions returned to the top 3.







In the women's competition, the Spanish Silvia Mas Depares and Patricia Cantero Reina kept the lead for the third day in a row, followed by the Dutch Afrodite Zegers and Lobke Berkhout, who moved up one more place.

The 3rd place is now occupied by the Italian Elena Berta and Bianca Caruso after a good performance today, winning one of the two races.

In this class, on the fourth day of competition Turkey is the best placed to fill the only Olympic spot in the women's fleet still available followed by Russia and Ukraine.

In the mixed competition, Israel's Gil Cohen and Noam Homri dethroned the English duo Amy Seabright and James Taylor from the lead, now down to 2nd place. The Italians Maria Vittoria Marchesini and Bruno Festo close the podium.

Mixed crews will be the exclusive format to be adopted after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, this being the last world championship with separate competitions between the two genders.








RESULTS


470 Worlds Website


In the women's competition, the Spanish Silvia Mas Depares and Patricia Cantero Reina kept the lead for the third day in a row, followed by the Dutch Afrodite Zegers and Lobke Berkhout, who moved up one more place.

The 3rd place is now occupied by the Italian Elena Berta and Bianca Caruso after a good performance today, winning one of the two races.

In this class, on the fourth day of competition Turkey is the best placed to fill the only Olympic spot in the women's fleet still available followed by Russia and Ukraine.

In the mixed competition, Israel's Gil Cohen and Noam Homri dethroned the English duo Amy Seabright and James Taylor from the lead, now down to 2nd place. The Italians Maria Vittoria Marchesini and Bruno Festo close the podium.

Mixed crews will be the exclusive format to be adopted after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, this being the last world championship with separate competitions between the two genders.