From Thursday, the Final Phase begins, where the new World Championship podiums will be decided, on these days, the racing can be followed in real time via Metasail Tracking at the following address: https://www.metasail.it/incoming/438/

A day of 20 knots easterly winds and big waves has seen the completion of the Qualifying Phase.

Alicante (26/07/23) - The third day of the 420 World Championship, which is being held in Alicante until Saturday 29th July, has served to close the Qualifying Phase and from tomorrow, Thursday, the Final Phase will begin, where the crews classified in the Gold Group will fight for the World Championship podiums in the Men, Mixed, Women’s and the U17 Men and Women’s categories.

In the Men/Mixed category the Americans Freddie Parkin and Asher Beck have managed to finish the Qualifying Phase as overall leaders, although they did not start the day well as they did not finish in the first race of the day (the fourth race overall and discarded), but they made up for it in the other two where they made a fifth and a second. They are followed by the Spaniards Pol Mateu/Alejandro de Maqua, who are second overall after a 4-6-1, placing them four points behind the Americans, who cannot fail again. Third are the Spanish Ian Walker and Fernando Barceló, who were leading the overall after five races. It is worth mentioning , just two points from the podium are the Spanish from Canary Islands Miguel Ángel Morales and Alejandro Martín. The first Mixed boat in the fleet is Italians Livia Campinelli and Nicola Brunotti who are in 6th place.

In the women’s category, the Greeks Iakovina Kezkezou and Danae Giannouli are proving to be very strong and consistent since the beginning of the championship. They continue to lead the overall standings with very solid perfoirmance today after scoring a fourth and a second place that keep them in the lead, opening a gap of six points over the two Spanish crews that follow them in second and third position. Paula and Isabel Laiseca from the Canary Islands and the Spanish pair Catalonia Nora García de la Casa and Mariona Ventura are tied on 15 points, and are consolidating their position as favourites for the podium with three rounds to go, and to continuing the fight for the title.

In the U17 category the Italians Alessio Cindolo and Marco Dogliotti, who remain leaders are now tied on points with the Germans Hannes Wehrle/Finn Meichel. In third place, five points off the lead, are Athanasios Lachanis/Socratis Chamarias of Greece. The first U17 Womens team are the German pairing of Esther Rodenhausen and Luisa Becker who sit in 9th place. 

Wednesday’s racing was a tough day with winds of between 18 and 20 knots from the east and a lot of waves, making it very demanding for both the crews and the Committees. In the end, six races were completed in all three categories in the Qualifying stage which was looking doubtful on Day 1.

From Thursday to Saturday, the Final Phase will take place, with the first 44 crews classified in the Qualifying Phase going through to the Gold Group in the Men/Mixed category; 32 in the Women’s category, and in the U17 category, 44. A further six races are scheduled in the final stage.

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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OVERALL CLASSIFICATION (After 6 races)

Men/Mixed (130 competitors)

1.Parkin/Beck (USA), 15 points

2.Mateu/De Maqua (ESP), 19 points

3.Walker March/Barcelo Pacis (ESP), 21 points

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Women (64 competitors)

1.Kerkezou/Giannouli (GRE), 9 points

2.Laiseca/Laiseca (ESP), 15 points

3.García de la Casa/Ventura (ESP), 15 points

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U17 (83 participants)

1.Cindolo/Dogliotti (ITA), 18 points

2.Wehrle/Meichele (GER), 18 points

3.Lachanis/Chamarias (GRE), 23 points

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