Day five of racing at the Techno293 World Championships was completely different to anything the competition had seen before, and that allowed a different set of sailors to take advantage of the changed conditions.
After a frustrating two days in which racing was limited due to the poor wind conditions, the fifth day was the chance for the strong wind specialists to take advantage of the blustery conditions and speeds up to 25 kts. [more]
That is something that Manon Pianazza, sister to European Champion Fabien and Youth Olympic Medal winner Lucie, said the higher wind speeds suited her style, “I like strong winds, but today I finished sixth and I’m sad – I hope to do better tomorrow.”
Each fleet was able to complete three races: two in the morning, before a short break and then the final race after that break.
And after a hard day, Israeli Junior Girl Ella Benbenisti emerged as the category leader thanks to a strong showing. She is top of the leader board with a net score of nine, while her closest competitor (Mak Cheuk-Wing from Hong Kong) is 11 behind on 20. Fellow Israeli Sharon Kantor brings up the top three with 28 points.
The rest of the top 10 includes Russian Yana Reznikova, French girls Pianazza, Jade Bruche and Mathilde Garandeau, Italian Sofia Renna, Belarus national Yana Lomats and Pole Aleksandra Wasiewicz.
In the Junior Boys category, Daniel Basik-Tashtash reigns supreme despite only managing two top three finishes. His lead is looking very comfortable and Basik-Tashtash is 19.5 points ahead of Jules Chantrel in second place.
Bringing up the final medal position is Frenchman Gaspard Carfantan, who won the last two races of the day as he excelled in the stronger wind conditions – while the final six in the top 10 include one Israeli, one Greek, two Italians, a Spaniard a Russian and a Frenchman.
Over with the Youth Girls and things look much more competitive going into the final day, but it appears that this is one category that Israeli will dominate as they have three athletes in the top four positions.
Linoy Geva and Maya Askkenzi are joint top with 22 net points after they both had a successful three races – while French girl Enora Tanne is third on 35 and Maya Humash from Israel is fourth on 40 points.
The Youth Boys show an even more complete dominance for Israel, who have had an incredibly successful Championship. The nation occupies the top four spots on the leader board, with Eyal Zror taking first place. His countrymen Amit Gan, Vardimon Tomer and Roi Hillel bring up second, third and fourth place after performing strongly in the heavier winds.
Tomorrow is the final day of racing and all eyes will be on the weather. Will it benefit those who prefer strong winds or will it be another day for the light wind specialists?
