470 Junior World Championships at Thessaloniki, Greece - Overall
by Icarus Sailing Media 1 Aug 2015 09:04 BST
26-31 July 2015
Welcome to the final day of the 2015 Junior World Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. The podium battle was set with the leaderboard top 10 in the women and men ready for the Medal Race, and the rest of the teams facing off in a "last race". An intense day, where a single mistake could cost a podium place. The double points medal race was the last chance to make the break.
Lavery and Brickwood executed their plan masterfully, leapfrogging Chile's Horwitz and Middleton to seize bronze. Italy's Di Salle and Dubbini wrapped up World Championship victory yesterday, but still proved their edge over the fleet by winning the medal race. Greece's Bozi and Klonaridou raced a safe 7th place result, to hold onto 2nd place and claim silver medals.
In the men's fleet, France's Pirouelle and Sipan went into the medal race with a significant points advantage, over Germany's Winkel and Cipra. Disaster struck, as they faced a problem with their spinnaker in the last downwind, dropping back to finish in last place. Fortunately for them, the Germans 4th place finish was not enough to take the advantage.
So Gold to France, silver to Germany. Italy's Ferrari and Calabro knew they needed to be smarter and tougher than their Spanish rivals to claim bronze. Their perfect race strategy gave them a 2nd place finish, to overtake the Spanish and claim the final spot on the podium.
At the Closing Ceremony, teams enjoyed an evening of celebrations and massive applause for the podium finishers.
Action now moves to Bulgaria for the 2015 470 Junior European Championships next week.
Results can be found here.