Byte CII World Championship at Fraglia Vela Riva, Lake Garda - Overall
by Elena Giolai 27 Apr 2014 20:45 BST
22-27 April 2014
It's official - Jonatan Vadnai of Hungary is world champion of the single Byte CII class, the boat selected for sailing in the Youth Olympics at Nanjing, China from the 16th-28th August. In the women's category it was a Dutch one-two with Odile Van Aaholt first and Mirthe Akkerman taking second place.
Thirteen races were programmed and thirteen races were delivered at Fraglia Vela Riva on Lake Garda Trentino for the World Byte CII Championships, the class which will be represented along with the windsurf Techno 293 at the second edition of the Youth Olympics. Young sailors age15-16 years from 24 different countries including African nations were involved in five days of intense competition, with Olympic qualification at stake. It was a World Championship of particular importance given that 6 European places in the men's and women's categories and two for the continent of Africa were to be assigned.
The regattas were very regular with good fluctuating winds of 12-16 knots. The two concluding regattas on Sunday morning were held with a northerly wind which was much different from the other eleven races which had taken place under the usual Lake Garda conditions of a southerly wind in the early afternoon.
Men's Category
No change in the the top three positions from yesterday as Vadnai of Hungary was declared world champion with a remarkable 25 point lead, in spite of not competing in the last two races. Silver medal went to Houtman of The Netherlands (1-5 final partials) and bronze was claimed by Nordquist of Sweden (6-1 in the final two regattas). There was much satisfaction for the organising club not only for the success of the event but also for the result of its own athlete. Vittorio Galliano had started the event a little unsettled but in the last couple of days showed determination in gaining his country's qualification and also in coming as close as he could to the podium as first of the Italians. Vittorio was very consistent finishing the championship with two fourths, overtaking Zivanovic of Croatia to take fourth place overall and third nation out of six to qualify. Greece, Portugal and France also qualified thanks to Kouklakis Papadopolous, Rodolfo Pires and Richard Romen along with The Netherlands, Sweden and Italy. Hungary and Croatia had qualified earlier.
Women's Category
In the women's, the positions at the bottom of the podium changed. Carolina Albano (CV Muggia) could do nothing to hold off the defending champion Maria Erdi (HUN 9). However to compensate this disappointment, Italy was the first nation to qualify (with Hungary and The Netherlands having already qualified). Great Britain, Portugal, Norway and France have also qualified for the Youth Olympics as well as South Africa and Egypt for Africa. Algeria had to withdraw after an injury on the first day.
Many thanks to to all those in the Regatta Committee and Jury together with the staff of Fraglia Vela Riva who were able to present to the competitors and coaches a World Byte Championship that was exciting and fun down to the last race with good weather conditions all five days of the event.