Topper World Championships at Riva del Garda - Day 3
by Elena Giolai 22 Jul 2015 20:48 BST
20-25 July 2015
Day three of the Topper World Championships – taking place at Fraglia Vela Riva and finishing on Friday - started off with bitter disappointment for the Italian team and especially for Patrick Zeni, who until that point had been in the lead in the overall standings in the 5.3 category.
Late last evening (Tuesday) he received two disqualifications following complaints from two competitors who are currently much further down the standings (a slight collision just before the start of the race). The young sailor from Fraglia Vela Malcesine, however, showed his true mettle by notching up three victories today which is the last day of qualification (from tomorrow the fleet will be divided in half in Gold and Silver).
These wins helped him climb back up the leaders board and tomorrow the second discard is in place after the tenth race, which is the first scheduled race of tomorrow (Thursday). In the meantime Vittorio Gallinaro took advantage of the situation. The young sailor from Fraglia Vela Riva took the lead after a first, a third and a second which gives him a three point lead over Geoff Power of Ireland who today came tenth in the seventh race followed by a second and a third.
Climbing into third place is Niamh Harper of G.B. (3-2-4). She is also the first female in the temporary standings. Zeni, after 6 firsts, a third and two painful and unexpected disqualifications, is lying in thirteenth place at the moment.
In the 4.3 category Francesca Ramazzotti (FV Desenzano) continues on course for victory and even today she was without doubt the fastest and best pulling off another batch of regular partials (2-1-5). Brandon Mattivi of Fraglia Vela Riva is in second place (4-2-2) and Gregorio Moreschi is third. He could easily take the second place off his team-mate as there are just three points between them.
Three races were completed today with the usual medium to light winds, bringing the total to nine races with two days still to go. From tomorrow the Gold fleet, the first 63 in the overall standings of the 5.3 category, will battle it out for a place on the podium and the World Title. All eyes are on the two Italians in competition Gallinaro and Zeni with Power of Ireland and Harper of G.B. hot on their heels.
Results after 3 races in the 5.3 fleet
Results for 4.2 fleet after 3 races