Decider tomorrow

Martinez and Fernandez continue to lead the 49er European Championships

The podium of the 49er Europeans – Madrid 2016, being held in Club Nàutic S’Arenal (Mallorca), will be decided tomorrow after the Medal Race, in which only the top ten will participate. None of the leaders shone enough today to assure a place on the podium. In fact, the brothers from Asturias didn’t do well at all and are down to third overall with Basque team Iker Martínez & Xabi Fernández taking the lead again. They are followed at only four points by Ukrainian crew Rodion Luka & Geogiy Leonchuk, which climbed from fourth to second overall

Italian brothers Pietro & Gianfranco Sibello were probably the stars of the day. SW (200-205º) winds blew today with 9 knots in the first race that increased to twelve in the second and last race of the day. The Italians led the two races; the first one from beginning to end and led the second one until they decided to retire when they knew they were OCS. Despite their good partial results, the different penalties (they had a new one yesterday) leaves the leaders of the world ranking lists away from the podium and are seventh overall.

None of the top crews shone especially today in Club Nàutic S’Arenal. The focus of attention was on both Spanish teams, at only one point from each other, but none of them performed well enough to guarantee a place on the podium.

The Alonso brothers (Alfa Romeo) finished 14 and 11 in today’s races. “We took the left side of the course and were left with no wind”, explained Federico Alonso about the bad result in the first race. This made them drop down to third overall at the 49er European championship – Madrid 2016. They were lucky because their immediate rivals didn’t do much better so they are still quite close in points.

With a 6 and 10, Iker Martínez & Xabi Fernández regained the lead of the 49er Europeans – Madrid 2016. The 2004 Athens gold medallists and Spanish representatives at the 2008 Beijing Games found it difficult to find a gap in the start so they sailed the first beats to windward quite behind although they later managed to climb places throughout the races.

The Basque tandem, with two World titles and the 2007 European championship title, will have to be careful in tomorrow’s Medal race if they want to revalidate their title. Ukrainian team Rodion Luka & Geogiy Leonchuk (Transbunker), (12 and 2 in today’s races) follow them at only four points and are up from fourth to second overall. The Alonso brothers are in third place at eight points from the leaders and four points from the team from Ukraine.

Fourth overall, at only two points from third classified, are Austrian sailors Nico Delle Kart & Nikolaus Leopold Resch (Hobas), which lost a place on the podium with finishing places 8 and 13.

The distance between fourth and fifth classified increased today, with 17 points difference. This place is for US team Tim Wadlow & Chris Rast (Secora), which are followed, in sixth place, by a tough rival: Australian sailors Nathan Outteridge & Austin Ben, the current class world champions that climbed up two places again showing their champions power since the first day.

A similar improvement has been seen over these days at Club Nàutic S’Arenal by German brothers Jan Peter & Hannes Peckolt (T-Systems), which also gained two places today, with a fifth and fourth and are now eighth overall.

The top ten of the 49er European championship– Madrid 2016 is completed with French team Monteau Alexandre & Guillou Damián in ninth place overall and tenth place is for Danish sailors Peter Krüger & Dennis Dengs Andersen (Hempel Dong Energy), which today lost what they had gained yesterday.

Everything can change tomorrow when the top ten sail the Medal race, the final race that scores double and cannot be discarded. The places of the podium won’t be decided until the last minute and winners will be able to celebrate their results at the prize giving ceremony scheduled at 17:00 hours in Club Nàutic S’Arenal.

The 49er European Championship is sponsored by Fundación Madrid 2016, the regional ministries of Tourism, Sports and Youth of the Govern de les Illes Balears and Llucmajor city council. Firms Engel & Völkers and Cadillac are collaborators and Seiko is the class sponsor.

Results, here .