THREE BULLETS FOR MATISSE PACAUD / LUCIE DE GENNES (FRA) ON DAY 1 OF 470 JUNIOR EUROPEANS
05 Jul 2023The first day of the Junior European Championships in the 470 class, was marked by the dominance of Matisse Pacaud and Lucie De Gennes. The French team won a clean sweep of three races on Monday and are on track to defend the title they won last year in Vilamoura, Portugal.
The conditions for racing on the Bay of Gdansk were excellent, allowing the sailors to showcase their sailing skills.
"We had a very successful day. Today, the wind was blowing from the east, which was a bit of a surprise because it hadn't happened before, but we managed it well. The key to these victories was good starts and sailing to the left side, where there was more wind. In addition, we sailed well in full wind, which made us significantly faster than our competitors," said the leaders, who are also the current junior world champions. They won the gold medal in 2022 on Lake Balaton in Hungary.
In second place are the Greeks, Ariadne-Paraskevi Spanaki (who competed in this class at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, finishing 15th with Emilia Tsulfa) and Odysseas-Emmanouil Spanakis, who secured second, third, and fifth positions. The top three are rounded out by Efe Tulcali and Defne Danismend from Turkey, who finished second, fourth, and ninth on Monday.
A total of 35 crews from 17 countries are competing in Gdynia. The championships will conclude on Monday, with 12 races planned.
Follow the championship at 2023junioreuropeans.420sailing.org