With registration and equipment inspection done and dusted, the 2016 470 Junior World Championship officially kicked off on Tuesday evening with the Parade of Nations leading teams through to the Opening Ceremony at the Audi Sailing Arena in Kiel, Germany.

Racing gets underway on Wednesday 22 June, with ten scheduled fleet races followed by the double points medal race unfolding on race course Charlie. The men’s fleet will be split into yellow and blue, with the women racing as one fleet.

Featuring the best 470 teams aged 23 and under, the starting line-up counts 22 nations, and includes defending Junior World Champions Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) in the 470 Men and Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) in the 470 Women. The gold medallists are joined by 3 of the other podium teams from 2015. Joining the large contingent of European nations are teams from Australia, Brazil Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.

A win on home waters is firmly in the sights of silver medallists Malte Winkel/Matti Cipra, racing with Audi Sailing Team Germany. Whilst family, friends and fans are keeping their fingers crossed for Malte Winkel, his younger sister Birte has no time for that. The 18-year old will also be racing on home waters, with helm Theres Dahnke. Brother and sister undertook the all-important task of declaring the Sailors’ Oath at last night’s Opening Ceremony.

Winkel and Cipra have shown a steady escalation on performance, bronze at the 2014 470 Junior Worlds and silver last year, and are amongst the podium favourites again this year. An upgrade to Gold though is what the pair has in their sights.

“The Junior Worlds in Kiel are the perfect farewell from the junior class for us,” explained Winkel about their last year eligible to compete in the under 24 age division. “We are very much looking forward to the event. After silver and bronze we are now aiming for gold in Kiel", he concluded with a wry smile.

On the same quest for victory are reigning 470 Junior World Champions Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan, and last year’s bronze medallists Giacomo Ferrari/Giullo Calabro.

Amongst the young talent also featuring in the fleet are Japan’s Daichi Takayama/Akira Takayanagi. Takayama showed huge form at last year’s 420 Worlds in Japan, muscling his way through to take gold. Takayama is known for stunning boat speed in a breeze, so the fleet will need to keep quite a close eye on this young pair as they will inevitably press the fleet around the track. Another 420 World Champion protégé is Spain’s Pedro Terrones, crewing with Enric Noguera. Three years ago Terrones won the 2013 420 Worlds with his former crew, before transitioning to the 470 Class.

Germany fields a significant line-up of nine teams, with the home nation’s leading contenders being Frederike Loewe/Anna Markfort, who climbed to the podium at the 2014 Junior European Championship.

There are numerous contenders in the women’s fleet, headlined by all three podium finishers from the 2015 Junior World Championships, Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) who took gold in 2015 and Maria Bozi/Rafailina Klonaridou (GRE) who took silver. Evidence of the level of the junior women’s fleet, the 4th, 5th and 7th placed teams from the 2015 470 Junior Worlds have all been selected to represent their nation in the 470 Women event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Making an appearance at their first ever 470 Junior Worlds are Theres Dahnke/Birte Winkel, who may possibly have an outside chances in light winds. The team live in Kiel and are members of Germany’s youth national sailing team. Whilst brother Malte will be in the fight for medals, for Dahnke/Winkel their debut performance will be all about securing a solid leaderboard finish, and they are hunting down a medal race appearance.

“We spend a lot of time with our sport. We moved to Kiel just for that. We train almost daily, whether on the water or in the gym. And if we do not train, we are working on our boat or are organising the next training blocks together with our coach," explained Dahnke .

"The Kiel Week is a big event each year. This year it is even more important with the Junior Worlds. Therefore the excitement is huge due to several reasons. It is our first Junior Worlds, it takes place in our own country and we want to be really good, of course", continued Winkel.

As it is their first Junior Worlds, it is hard to rate the fleet, explained Dahnke, “A place in the top ten, which would result to be part of the medal race, would make us be really satisfied.”

About the 2016 470 Junior World Championship
The 2016 470 Junior World Championship is organized by Kieler Yacht-Club in co-operation with the International 470 Class Association. The racing format is a 10 race series scheduled for the 470 Men and 470 Women fleets, followed by the medal race for the top ten teams in each fleet and a final race for the other teams. The men’s fleet are seeded into yellow and blue fleet for the qualifying series, before being split into gold and silver for the final series, with the women racing a single fleet series.

Nations represented at the 2016 470 Junior World Championship are: Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.

A performance racing machine, the 470 rewards agility, tactics, tuning, sailing skills, strategy and mental astuteness. Teamwork is crucial and the pressure is high, with Junior World titles at stake.

Useful Links
Championship website – http://2016juniorworlds.470.org

Live Tracking is on the Kieler Woche website – https://kielerwoche2016.sapsailing.com

Kieler Woche website - http://www.kieler-woche.de/english/sailing/

Media Information
The local Organizing Committee will be providing daily photo galleries which will be available on the Kieler Woche website, Championship website and Facebook.

Request for high resolution images for media use should be made to Ralf Abratis on ralf.abratis@svg-verlag.de

Daily video highlights will be published on the Kieler Woche website and Junior World Championship website.

Social Media
International 470 Class Association on Facebook will bring you regular updates at www.facebook.com/470olympicsailing

The @470sailing Twitter account will be following the action throughout the Championship. Get involved by using #470juniorworlds and #470sailing

Follow the 2016 470 Junior World Championship via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/KiWoOnline/videos