Favourites come to the fore

Mateusz Kusznierewicz continues to dominate Finn Europeans in La Rochelle

Despite an intense battle raging on the waters off La Rochelle, Polish sailor Mateusz Kusznierewicz continues to dominate the Finn Europeans and today sailed front of the fleet to win the first race by a large margin, while he finish third in the second race at first place was contended right up until the finish by Ben Ainslie and Karlo Kuret. Eventually the Croatian, who is one of the most experienced Finn sailors of the Championship with three Olympiads under his belt, ultimately got the better of the World champion within a few meters of the line.

The first race started with 12 knots. The Oscar flag, allowing free pumping, was displayed at the top mark. Guillaume Florent was first to round followed by Kusznierewicz, Ainslie and Mattias Miller from Germany. At the leeward mark, Kusznierewicz had passed the Frenchman with Ainslie moving up to second position.

On the second beat the Pole enjoyed a big shift on the extreme left side of the course that propelled him out of reach from his followers. Florent caught up Ainslie and stayed on his tail until the last beat. The Frenchman and Michael Fellmann who had both sailed further to the left made some ground on Ainslie, to take second and third place in front of the World Champion.

With more wind on the second race, Oscar was displayed at the start of the triangle course. The wind had built to 14-17 knots. After several general recalls, the Black flag sent eight sailors back home. Ben Ainslie cleared out at the start, followed closely by Kuret and Kusznierewicz. Kuret, showed good speed and pointing higher than his rival, gained some ground until within 100m of the finish, the Croatian passed the Ainslie to win the race. Kusznierewicz crossed the line in third position followed by Gasper Vincec and Marin Misura.

Iacopo Tacchino was the best Junior in both races in 43rd and 36th place.

With races sailed Kusznierewicz is leading the regatta including a third place discard, ahead of Ben Ainslie and Sebastien Godefroid.

The battle for Olympic selection is getting intense between the three Kiwis, who are now within three points of each other, with Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker sixth, Clifton Webb seventh after collecting a black flag today, and Peter Fox eighth.

British sailors Andrew Simpson and Matt Howard are lying 16th and 45th respectively.

Results

Pos	Sailor	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot	Pnts
1	KUSZNIEREWICZ Mateusz	POL	2	2	2	1	3	10	7
2	AINSLIE Ben	GBR	28	4	1	4	2	39	11
3	GODEFROID Sébastien	BEL	1	6	3	35	7	52	17
4	FLORENT Guillaume	FRA	11	5	9	2	13	40	27
5	PAPATHANASIOU Emilios	GRE	29	1	4	17	8	59	30
6	BARKER Dean	NZL	4	37	6	18	10	75	38
7	WEBB Clifton	NZL	3	9	19	9	BFD	131	40
8	FOX Peter	NZL	6	15	35	14	6	76	41
9	HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas	DEN	13	7	7	24	19	70	46
10	FELLMANN Michael	GER	52	11	20	3	17	103	51
11	ADAKAN Ali Enver	TUR	14	46	12	7	18	97	51
12	ZIELHUIS Jaap	NED	8	54	10	10	24	106	52
13	CLARKE Richard	CAN	17	35	11	13	12	88	53
14	HOLM Soren	DEN	5	10	25	30	15	85	55
15	NOSSITER Anthony	AUS	53	8	13	25	9	108	55
16	SIMPSON Andrew	GBR	41	3	24	5	30	103	62
17	TILLANDER Johan	SWE	10	20	63	15	21	129	66
18	KURET Karlo	CRO	21	26	26	19	1	93	67
19	VINCEC Gasper	SLO	40	50	14	11	4	119	69
20	SIGNORINI JoÆo	BRA	20	24	15	20	16	95	71
21	MISURA Marin	CRO	19	42	23	27	5	116	74
22	TRUJILLO Rafael	ESP	33	17	33	8	23	114	81
23	ADERMAN Kristian	SWE	42	23	40	6	14	125	83
24	VIALI Nenad	CRO	34	16	31	12	33	126	92
25	O'GRADY Aaron	IRL	7	22	29	59	35	152	93
26	SZUKIEL Rafal	POL	9	12	49	28	45	143	94
27	KRUTSKIKH Vladimir	RUS	44	25	21	38	20	148	104
28	BRUNO Ismaël	FRA	32	53	5	40	28	158	105
29	COOK Christopher	CAN	12	32	47	23	54	168	114
30	COLLA Alejandro	ARG	43	28	18	36	32	157	114
31	MUELLER VON BLUMENCRON Othmar	SUI	51	13	38	34	34	170	119
32	RAUDASCHL Florian	AUT	16	64	30	48	25	183	119
33	MARCHESINI Michele	ITALIE	26	21	43	29	50	169	119
34	LIU Bo	CHN	24	69	8	26	BFD	218	127
35	HAJDU Balazs	HUN	15	51	39	62	22	189	127
36	DE VRIES Stefan	NED	27	61	36	33	31	188	127
37	CHERNOV Evgeny	RUS	64	29	32	41	26	192	128
38	BIRGMARK Daniel	SWE	31	18	44	47	38	178	131
39	MAIER Michael	CZE	65	63	22	37	11	198	133
40	GONG Lei	CHN	30	14	BFD	45	47	227	136
41	BURGER Christoph	SUI	35	43	37	21	BFD	227	136
42	ALSOGARAY Julio	ARG	58	47	17	54	27	203	145
43	BORYSOV Oleksiy	UKR	70	27	28	46	46	217	147
44	BOYD Bryan	USA	23	44	69	22	62	220	151
45	HOWARD Matthew	GBR	46	48	27	31	51	203	152
46	BURROWS David	IRL	54	38	16	52	BFD	251	160
47	NIRKKO Tapio	FIN	36	36	61	53	41	227	166
48	THEURER Peter	SUI	49	31	56	65	37	238	173
49	MILLER Mattias	GER	57	77	53	16	48	251	174
50	KAPITONOV Vladislav	RUS	38	65	54	44	44	245	180