Lanzarote Reserves Olympic Passes for Medal Race
The Olympic places for Tokyo 2020 are still open. Finland is close to a ticket to Tokyo in the Nacra 17 flying catamaran, Ireland holds the 49er pass, while Belgium is in contention for the pass and the Medal Race. The final will be broadcast live on the Olympic Channel and World Sailing.
The Spanish duo of Diego Botín and Iago López have mathematically won the Lanzarote International Regatta with the best score, while the Canary Islands' Tara Pacheco and Catalan Florian Trittel continue to dominate the Nacra 17. Brazil dominates the 49er FX, but Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló are in the top five.
Lanzarote once again gave us a perfect day for sailing. The easterly breeze left no room for mistakes with a left-hand-sided favoured race track making a good start and speed essential. The top teams kept the manoeuvres to a minimum. With flatter water than normal, especially on the 49er courses, the teams were at full speed. Tomorrow with the wind turning to the right will see a very different sea state!
Day 5 of the regatta saw consistent conditions, with all the groups finishing in record time in each race, which gives us an idea of the good weather conditions in the Canary Islands for sailing and water sports 365 days a year. The Spanish team once again excelled on the Lanzarote racecourse, with the golden duo of Cantabrian Diego Botín and Galician Iago López in first place in the 49er, achieving the best score of the entire competition. "Very good conditions these last two days, perfect wind and waves," said their coach Pepe Lis. In his opinion, his boys have sailed very well, "taking advantage of their strong points and coming back when the start wasn't good."
In this same discipline (49er), the Irish continue to lead among the countries that are playing for the Olympic pass, so Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove will compete this Friday in the Medal Race for the pass to Tokyo. "We had a very good day, with very good speed and kept the right direction," said Waddilove. However, they do not have the pass in their hands yet, as the Belgians, Yannick Lefebvre and Tom Pelsmaekers, made it into the top 10 and are in contention to qualify for the Medal Race, and perhaps they will surprise everyone during the final qualifying race before the Medal Race.
The competition and the desire to get to Tokyo was especially noticeable in the Nacra 17 races, where the Finnish pair tried to confirm their place at the Tokyo Olympics, achieving a first place in the third race, but an off line put in doubt that the Olympic ticket will carry their name. "The weather conditions were great and we had very good starts, but in the first leg we got stuck in the top mark, in the second leg we did better and in the last leg we were first, but apparently we had an off line, which left a bad taste in our mouths," lamented Sinem Kurtbay and Janne Jarvine, although they lodged a protest. The Greeks have also managed to move up to the top 10 in Nacra 17, so it is possible that they will compete for a European place.
In the women's Olympic 49er FX class, Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze continued to dominate, although they did not have as good results as in previous days. On Thursday, the Galician Tamara Echegoyen and the Mallorcan Paula Barceló excelled and managed to position themselves in the top five. However, Brazil and Spain have already qualified for the Olympic Games, but there are two countries that will compete directly for the place in Tokyo, the Belgians Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts will compete against the Croatians Enia Nincevic and Mihaela Zjena. "First we need to qualify, but tomorrow is going to be a tough day. Belgium is about 20 points behind us, but we hope to do our best tomorrow, we will give our best," said Nincevic and Zjena.
Text Credits: Lanzarote International Regatta
Photo Credits: Sailing Energy / Lanzarote International Regatta