Mills and Hughes take the win

The 470 Junior World Championships have come to a close in Poland

Steven LeFevre and Steven Krol from The Netherlands are the new 470 Class Junior World Champions and Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes from Great Britain, the new 470 Class Junior Women's World Champions. Both events were concluded this afternoon in Poland with the medal races.
 
Women

Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes (GBR) secured the gold medal with a second place in today’s medal race. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke made a last attempt to go home as first German women’s crew. However, their chances of a medal were over, they achieved their goal by crossing the finish line in first place.
 
Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos from Spain climbed the podium to receive silver, and Lisa Ericson and Astrid Gbabrielsson (SWE) took bronze.
 
“I feel pretty good, quite relieved,” Mills said. The girls from Great Britain are the first women that win the separated 470 Junior Worlds Women’s event. The Championship has always taken place in one mixed fleet, but because of the increasing number of participating female crews the last few years, and to make women’s sailing more transparent, it has been decided to separate the Junior Worlds into a Men/Mixed and Women’s event.
 
“Racing against the boys is exciting, but in a separate event you have a better overview of who your opponents are. Now, and for the future.” Mills commented.
 
It has been quiet around the promising team that joined up around Christmas 2006 and started sailing 470’s. In 2007, they won the 470 Junior Women’s European Championship, the second 470 Championship they had competed in.
 
“We haven’t been sailing much the last few months. We just had our exams and we will set our minds to sailing for the next few years. 2012, that’s the plan. I just finished my second year of University and have one more year to go, but I’ll catch up with that later.” she said.
 
Men

It was going to be an exciting battle for Steven LeFevre and Steven Krol from the Netherlands to defend their golden position ahead of Lior Lavie and Yam Amir from Israel and Italy’s Luca and Roberto Dubbini. If the Italian cousins would have been able to stay in front of the Dutch with one boat in between, their chance for Gold would have been strong.

However, the Dutch did not leave anything to chance and sped to the windward mark to follow the Israeli’s close around in first and third position. The Dutch demonstrated excellent downwind speed and passed the gate in the lead, which they held for the rest of the medal race.
 
The Dutch boys look back on a successful event, a milestone in their ambition to experience the Olympic dream. “Of course we were kind of nervous before the start. We motivated each other; let’s go for it one more time, cut the crap and be serious. This is our big chance!

"It has been a very good event with strong and fair battles. Finally, our opponents and ourselves, are happy for each other to be on the podium together. We all know that we will meet again next month at the Junior Europeans. It’s not over after that because we will be training with the Israeli’s during the winter and form a group of young ambitious sailors to make each other better. We are the ‘young ones’ with ambitions for 2012,” LeFevre said.
 
The 470 Junior European Championships will take place from 7 to 15 August in Zadar, Croatia as a combined event with the 420 Junior European Championships.

Results:

Men

1-NED 77 - Steven LEFEVRE and Steven KROL, 58 points
2-ISR 9 - Lior LAVIE and Yam AMIR, 69
3-ITA 4 - Luca DUBBINI and Roberto DUBBINI, 82
4-FRA 27 - Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION, 89
5-SWE 333 - Victor BERGSTROM and Marcus DACKHAMMAR, 93
6-ESP 1868 - Pablo SANTURDE and Juan Manuel CEREZO RUIZ, 99
7-GRE 24 - Panagiotis VERGINADIS and Timos VLACHOS, 99
8-POL 52 - Tomasz JANUSZEWSKI and Marcin MICKIEWICZ, 101
9-ITA 4429 - Simon SIVITZ KOSUTA and Jas FARNETI, 101
10-GRE 7 - Georgios VASILAS and Efstathios PAOADOPOULOS, 104

Women
 
1-GBR 835 - Hannah MILLS and Katrina HUGHES, 22 points
2-ESP 696 - Tara PACHECO and Berta BETAZOS, 36
3-SWE 33 - Lisa ERICSON and Astrid GABRIELSSON, 45
4-GER 51 - Tina LUTZ and Susann BEUCKE, 65
5-GER 4983 - Annika BOCHMAN and Anika LORENZ, 69
6-AUS 352 - Staey OMAY and Chelsea HALL, 83
7-BLR 5 - Alexandra AZIORNAYA and Alla VERNIKOVICH, 85
8-GBR 837 - Claire WALSH and Jasmin HUSBAND, 113
9-ISR 111 - Geva TAL and Mia LEBEL, 115
10-GBR 840 - Sophie WEGUELIN and Sophie AINSWORTH, 121