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15 Jun 2009

European Championships Completed

Image: Conti Giulia / Micol Giovanna © 470 Internationale

2009 Open 470 Class European Championships for Men/Mixed and Women
5-14 June, Lake Traunsee - Austria

New names added to impressive list of 470 Class Championship medalists

At 7am on Sunday morning, racing successfully got underway for both the Men’s and Women’s 470, to conclude the Open 470 Class European Championships Men/Mixed and Women. One race in each event was needed to have a valid Championship, and a light early morning breeze fulfilled this requirement smoothly. Harada Ryunosuko and Yoshida Yugo (JPN) win the Open men’s 470 event and Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) win the Championship title, as second overall and first ranked crew representing European countries and countries from the Mediterranean basin. Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol from Italy win the Open women’s event, and the title. These Open Men/Mixed and Women’s European Championships were the first International 470 Class Championships within the Olympic Quadrennium onto 2012. After seven days of competition, the top five in the men’s event is occupied by crews who won a varied number of medals in various International 470 class Championships. It shows, that competition in the 470 class rarely knows common leaders, nor specific nations that dominate in the global 470 class competition.

30 nations participated in total in the Open Europeans for Men/Mixed and Women, and both events were represented by nations from five continents.

Men’s 470

For Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic, it’s their first time to win a medal at a senior International 470 class Championship. They wrote the 470 class Junior World’s title of 2005 and 2007 to their names, and with the European’s title of 2009, the 23 year old men add themselves to the regularly quoted list of 470 class Championship title winners.

Also Lucas Zellmer and Heiko Seelig from Germany win their first medal in an International 470 class Championship. By winning silver in this event, they took a lead over opponents with impressive records.

Gabrio Zandona, winning the bronze medal in this 470 Europeans with his new team mate Eduardo Mancinelli, started his professional sailing career with Andrea Trani, just like today’s honored women’s European Champions, while taking part in a an Italian military sports support program. Zandona and Trani won their first Championship (bronze) medal at the 470 Europeans in 2001, and continued to win the 470 World’s title at the 2003 ISAF Sailing World Championships. Next to sailing 470’s, Zandona sails Melges 24 where he led his team to the European’s title in 2005.

Sven Coster and Kalle Coster (NED) take a 4th overall ranking in this Championship. The Dutch brothers had their first big success at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships, where they climbed the podium for the silver medal. In 2008, they won silver at the 470 Europeans. In their second act at the Olympics of 2008, they lost the Olympic bronze medal in the last half hour of the Olympic event to Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset (FRA).

Charbonnier, now forming a team with Baptiste Meyer, is known as a very talented and successful sailor in many types of sailing disciplines. After many successes in youth sailing, he combined 470 sailing while being involved in a French America’s Cup project. Also in multihull sailing, Charbonnier shows on top in international events.

Fantela and Marenic, now proudly swinging their 470 European Championship Gold medal, are the youngest of these top five ranked crews. The men from Croatia had their Olympic debut in the 2008 Olympic sailing competition, where they reached a 9th position.

“This is the most excellent feeling we´ve had so far in sailing. It’s our first major victory. It was extremely difficult this week, but the race committee did a fantastic job under this hard conditions. It is far easier for us to sail on the sea. Here on the Traunsee you need a good eye for wind shifts and a lot of routine. We gave our maximum every day and every race. This result is a confirmation for us and our trainers, that we are all going in the right direction.” Fantela said. Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS) end their second event since they are in Europe in 5th position in the Open Event.

Victor Kovalenko, coaching the Australian 470 team into a new Olympic period looks back onto the development of, and conditions during the event. The event has brought experiences to the AUS team, that may be useful to dig for new Olympic gold. But most of all, and typical for Kovalenko’s character, he admires the efforts and success of others.

“It was an interesting, challenging event, and successful in general. We had difficult conditions, but in the end the best sailors show on top. If there would have been more races, the results would not have been different. We congratulate the winners because they deserve it. And about the Croatians, they have been working for this for so long now ,we are very happy for them!. For us, it was a good learning school. We had complex light winds, thermical winds, cold and sweet water, all types of conditions that we don’t have in Australia. In the end, we are very happy with our results.” Kovalenko said.

Women’s 470

Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol from Italy won the overall Open event, and the European title, without letting any other women’s crew get on top of them in the overnight rankings.

After Conti’s Olympic adventure in the Yngling class that ended in Athens 2004, she teamed up with Micol in 470’s. They started the competition in the women’s 470 in 2005, and worked their way up to win silver at the 2008 World Championship.

“It is a great feeling. It is our first win at the Europeans after being second in 2007. We did a fantastic job over the whole week. Only today we had a bad race, which we discarded. I am extremely happy that we are still able to be in front after quitting racing after the Olympics. We started to sail together three weeks ago and now we are the champs. The conditions during the week were challenging, but we can say that it was a fair championship. Traunsee is a beautiful place and tricky to sail. With a bit more weather luck, it would have been a fantastic spot.” Conti said Only the winners of the ISAF World Cup Delta Lloyd Regatta last month, Ai Kondo and Wakoko Tabata from Japan came close, and take second place in the Open Women’s event. Kondo and Tabata, two helms, have teamed up after the 2008 Olympic sailing competition.

Ai Kondo formed a team onto the 2008 Olympics with Naoko Kamata. The Japanese women’s 470 crew was mentioned in one breath with crews like Conti and Micol from Italy and De Koning and Berkhout from the Netherlands, as the women to watch at the 2008 Olympic sailing competition.

Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos from Spain take second place in the Women’s European Championships, representing the second ranked European nation.

The women from Spain seem to do very well in senior events. At last year’s 470 Women’s Junior Europeans and Worlds, they had to allow other crews like Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes (GBR) in front of them, however at the latest Semaine Olympique Francaise they make great progress and take a 4th overall position, leaving the other Junior women far behind. Also at the Delta Lloyd Regatta they manage to put the pressure on the seniors ending the event 7th overall.

Anthi Economou and Olga Tsigaridi (GRE) have their first success in a senior 470 class Championship. They win bronze in the Women’s Europeans, in an only 0.8 point lead on Margriet Fokkema and Marieke Jongens (NED). These Dutch girls seem to make good progress, with a silver medal at the Semaine Olympique Francaise as best result sofar. In this event, they also manage to stay on top of their fellow Dutch crew Mandy Mulder and Merel Witteveen, silver medalists in the Yngling class at the 2008 Olympic sailing competition.

In the Open event, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (NZL) take a third overall position. The women’s top performing crew experienced more classes as a team, and individually as well.

In 2007 they won the 420 Ladies’ World Championships, and took a shot for a first 470 experience at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships to end 15th. Aleh however, focused on an Olympic campaign in the Laser Radial, where she won silver at the Test events of 2006 and 2007, and reached a 7th position in the 2008 Olympic sailing competition in the women’s one person dinghy event.

After the Olympics, Aleh and Powrie conclude that they fit together in a two person dinghy and announce that they will start a 470 campaign onto Londen 2012. At the Delta Lloyd Regatta in May this year, it seems that their decision must be taken seriously. They end the event in a very successful 4th overall position, and in this Open 470 Europeans event, they end in 3rd.

Strong global competition continues onto London 2012

The next International 470 class Championship will be the 470 Worlds, to take place in Copenhagen, 20-29 August, with the ISAF World Cup Kiel Week in between. In the men’s 470, most crews expected to build a campaign onto 2012 have already participated in World cup events earlier this year, or at this last week’s Open Europeans.

Returning crews and newcomers however, are expected. Competition will be fierce the coming years. It may be expected that, the last Olympic Quadrennium alike, an approximate number of forty to fifty nations from six continents will take part in the competition for participation at the Olympic Games of 2012.

In the women’s 470’s, there are crews still expected to join and get their Olympic campaign onto London 2012 started. Dutch top sailors Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout recently announced to merge as a team.

Westerhof participated in the Athens 2004 Olympic sailing regatta in 470’s with Europe class legend Margriet Mathijsse, and Berkhout has written history in the women’s 470 class with Marcelien de Koning. De Koning and Berkhout won the 470 women’s World’s title for three times in a row (2005, 2006, 2007), and finally Olympic silver in Qingdao 2008.

Last but not least, the defenders of the Olympic women’s two person dinghy title: Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson (AUS) will be back.

Medallists

470 Class European Championships - Men and Mixed Crews
Gold CRO 83 Fantela Sime / Marenic Igor
Silver GER 49 Zellmer Lucas / Seelig Heiko
Bronze ITA 2 Zandona Gabrio / Edoardo Mancinelli

Women’s 470 European Championships - Women Crews
Gold ITA 23 Conti Giulia / Micol Giovanna
Silver ESP 696 Pacheco Tara / Betanzos Berta
Bronze GRE 887 Economou Anthi / Tsigaridi Olga

TOP 10 Open 470 Class European Championships

TOP 10 470 Men/Mixed Open
1 JPN 4340 Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida 38
2 CRO 83 Fantela Sime / Marenic Igor 43
3 GER 49 Zellmer Lucas / Seelig Heiko 57
4 ITA 2 Zandona Gabrio / Edoardo Mancinelli 62
5 AUS 11 Belcher Mathew / Page Malcolm 63
6 NED 1 Coster Sven / Coster Kalle 65
7 FRA 7 Charbonnier Nicolas / Meyer-Dieu Baptiste 67
8 GRE 165 Mantis Panagiotis / Kagialis Pavlos 71
9 GRE 1 Kambouridis Panagiotis / Orologas Gerasimos 74
10 ITA 11 Zeni Fabio / Pitanti Nicola 78

TOP 10 470 Women Open
1 ITA 23 Conti Giulia / Micol Giovanna 19
2 JPN 4151 Kondo Ai / Tabata Wakako 22
3 NZL 75 Aleh Jo / Powrie Olivia 33
4 ESP 696 Pacheco Tara / Betanzos Berta 35
5 GRE 887 Economou Anthi / Tsigaridi Olga 38
6 NED 6 Fokkema Margriet / Jongens Marieke 38.8
7 AUT 431 Vogl Sylvia / Flatscher Carolina 44
8 ESP 133 Gallego Marina / Rita Roman Julia 46
9 NED 7 Mulder Mandy / Witteveen Merel 49
10 DEN 143 Koch Henriette / Sommer Lene 49

Photos are available online at: www.470.org/gallery

Full results Men and Women