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Sailing World Cup

SPANISH 470 TEAM HIT THE GROUND RUNNING AT THE HEMPEL WORLD CUP SERIES FINAL

04 Jun 2019

Spain's Jordi Xammar and Nicolás Rodriguez got off to a flying start at the Hempel World Cup Series Final in Marseille, France, winning both of their races in the Men's 470.

This news belongs to
2019 World Cup Series Final - Marseille
ALL EVENT INFORMATION

 

In a variable 7-12 knot south easterly breeze, the competitors from 41 nations, racing across the ten Olympic events and an Open Kiteboarding fleet completed every scheduled race. In some fleets, there were some exceptional individual performances whilst in others, consistency was scarce at the early stage of the event.

Xammar and Rodriguez shone on the Marseillaise waters and were clinical racing in the 29-boat Men's 470 fleet.

"We won both of our races," expressed Xammar immediately ashore after racing, "It's not normally like this. We're happy with the day. It's a good beginning but there's plenty of races to go."

The Spanish duo squeezed in front at the first mark rounding of the first race and were able to extend their lead and cover the pack. They took the race win, finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of Giacomo Ferrari and Giulio Calabrò (ITA).

The second race was not as straight forward. "We had to put in a huge effort," said Rodriguez. "We managed to round the top mark in 11th and then we had to find a way to edge forward."

Chipping in, Xammar exclaimed, "We had a bit of luck. You sometimes need a bit of luck to win races so this was also on our side."

The pair did indeed edge forward as the race progressed, sailing to victory over Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) by just four seconds.

Xammar and Rodriguez won gold earlier in the year at Hempel World Cup Series Miami, their first ever World Cup title. They recently finished second at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia and are considered as contenders for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Their recent success is the result of putting extended hours into their training programme and preparing under the watchful eyes of two 470 sailing legends.

"We're working with Gideon Kliger and Juan de la Fuente," said Rodriguez. "Gideon was a really great and experienced sailor with many medals in World and European Championships. Juan has two Olympic medals so we're lucky to have them coach us within our team. They are key to us."

Israel's Kliger, a former helm, is a five-time World Championship medallist and two-time Olympian and Argentina's de la Fuente won bronze at Sydney 2000 and at London 2012 as crew. The pair are as experienced as coaches come and have proven to be the guiding light for the young Spanish team.

"Juan is helping me quite a lot with the small details as a crew," said Rodriguez. "He was a crew and one of the best in the world. Gideon has brought a calmer mood to the team which I don't think we had before. We have a good balance in the team. Juan is pushing us quite a lot."

"Juan is the one shouting," smiled Xammar, "for training it's been really good for us. Gidy is the one who we compete with and he keeps us calm. The combination is just perfect.

"It's amazing, because you don't lose yourself. When they say something, you have no doubt because we try it straight away and it works and they have so much experience. They have sailed the boat for over 20-years and the combination of an ex-470 skipper and crew is perfect."

At the end of day one, the Spanish team lead Belcher and Ryan and Italy's Ferrari and Calabrò by three points.

Consistency was at a premium in the Women's 470 with no team able to replicate the Spanish teams complete performance.

Germany's Frederike Loewe and Anna Markfort finished third in both races and hold the lead. Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre (GBR) took the first race win of the week and are second and the second race winners, Afrodite Zegers and Lobke Berkhout (NED), are fifth.


Racing resumes at 11:00 local time on Wednesday 5 June.

 

Find out how to follow the Hempel World Cup Series Final below:


EVENT WEBSITE

Click here for further information on Marseille and the Hempel World Cup Series -

http://wcsf.marseille.ffvoile.fr/

ENTRIES / RESULTS / SCHEDULE
Click here to view the entry list in full.

Results will be available here -

http://sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php

.To view the full schedule click here. 


SAP SAILING ANALYTICS

Live tracking, sailor analytics, live weather data and racing status will be available on the SAP Sailing Analytics here -

http://sapsailing.com/

WATCH

Daily highlights and live streamed Medal Races on Saturday and Sunday will be available across the World Sailing Network.

Click here to subscribe.

Sunday Medal Races - 470

URL - https://youtu.be/yQnlnue0ZJ0


Source: World Sailing