Mateu/De Maqua (Men/Mixed), Kerkezou/Giannouli (Women) and Wehrle/Meichle (U17), leading crews after the first day of the Finals.

Alicante (27/07/23) - The Final Phase of the 420 World Championship, which is being held until Saturday in the waters of Alicante, has started with the first of the three days of finals, and where the dance of positions has begun, after the completion of three races, the Spanish and German crews have already begun open up a lead in the Men/mixed and U17 categories, while in the Women’s category the Greeks are the only ones who maintained their lead.

In the Men/mixed category, the Spaniards have taken the lead. The Spaniards from Catalonia, Pol Mateu and Alejandro De Maqua are the new leaders, an 8-11-1 has lifted them to first position and are in a good position to ensure at least a medal with three races to go. Mateu and De Maqua are 19 points ahead of second place, the Spaniards from Canary Island Miguel Ángel Morales and Alejandro Martín and 29 points ahead of third place, the Spaniards from Balearic Island Ian Walker and Fernando Barceló. Unfortunately, the overnight leaders, Americans Freddie Parkin and Asher Beck, who after winning the first race, scored a 30 in the second and a black flag in the third putting them out of contention. 

In the Mixed category, the Greek crew of Dimitris Bitros/Cleio Soulioti lead the way.

In the Women’s category the Greeks, Iakovina Kerkezou and Danae Giannouli, have held firm as leaders since the opening day. They have not made a single mistake, which leaves them discarding a 4th place so far. However, they can’t be over confident, as they have the Brazilians Joana Gonçalves and Gabriela Vassel in second place, just 8 points behind them, and a little further away in third place are the Spaniards Nora García de la Casa and Mariona Ventura. The Spaniards from Canary Island Paula and Isabel Laiseca, who were in second place yesterday,  just five points behind the Spaniards from Catalonia, are provisionally out of the podium. But tomorrow brings 2 more races so nothing is decided yet.

In the U17 Fleet the Germans Hannes Wehrle and Finn Meichle have taken the lead thanks to a day where they have been able to maintain their consistency with a 9-5-4. While the Italians Alessio Cindolo and Marco Dogliotti, who were the great dominators in the Qualifying Phase, were too inconsistent and after a 11-1-25, they dropped to second place. Third place goes to the Italians Giulia Schultze and Andrea Tomasso Vichi, who won the first event of the day and jumped onto the podium. In the U17 Women’s category, Germany’s Esther Rodenhausen and Luisa Sophie Becker are leading at this stage in 8th place overall.

After the strong winds and waves on Wednesday, the first day of the Final Phase has been calmer in terms of wind intensity, with an easterly blowing between 8-10 knots. But on the other hand it has been a day where technique and tactics have prevailed, where the wind with constant ups and downs of intensity made it a tricky day. It was also a day in which there were several general calls, which caused the Committee to raise the black flag, so that from this moment on, all the boats that started prematurely were disqualified from the race.

For tomorrow, Friday, the organisers are planning to hold two races, the fourth and fifth in the Finals, leaving the sixth and final race for Saturday.

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Live tracking on the following link: https://www.metasail.it/incoming/438/

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The 420 World Championship has the institutional support of the Alicante City Council, especially the Sports and Tourism Councils, as well as the Alicante Provincial Council, the Generalitat Valenciana and the Alicante Port Authority.

Likewise, private entities have joined the sponsorship and collaboration with the event, such as the Ford Movilsa dealership, SeaDek Europe -a company from Alicante that manufactures nautical covers- and Schweppes.

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CLASSIFICATIONS (After 9 races)

Men/Mixed (130 participants)

1.Mateu/De Maqua (ESP), 34 points

2.Morales/Martin (ESP), 53 points 

3.Walker/Barcelo (ESP), 63 points

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Women (64 competitors)

1.Kerkezou (GRE), 15 points

2.Gonçalves/Vassel (BRA), 23 points

3.Garcia de la Casa/Ventura, 32 points

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U17 (83 participants)

1.Wehrle/Meichle (GER), 36 points

2.Cindolo/Dogliotti (ITA), 49 points

3.Schultze/Vichi (ITA), 55 points

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