49er World Championships in Cadiz Overall

Top speed conditions for the 49er fleet at the ISAF World Sailing Championships © Laurence Polli

Norwegians prevail in close fight for second place

Norway’s Christoffer Sundby and Frode Bovim sailed an excellent final day to claim second place overall at the 49er World Championships in Cadiz. While new World Champions, Great Britain’s Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, chose to stay ashore after a big night out celebrating, their Norwegian training partners scored a 1,6 in the final two heats to finish on 70 points. The Ukraine’s Rodion Luka and George Leonchuk also had a superb end to the series, to claim third place with 72 points.

By contrast, Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith saw their Olympic selection hopes fade after two finishes at the back of the fleet saw them drop from second to fourth overall, with 72.6 points, less than a point off third place. Claiming a podium position might have given the British team some hope of extending the Olympic trials, but now Draper and Hiscocks are within one formal announcement of being selected for Athens.

Brotherton commented: “I don’t think our hearts were in it today. We came here to win the Worlds and once that was gone it was hard to keep on going.” Although most observers would say the winners made it look like a walk in the park, Draper disagreed. “We have been fighting, but we were fast,” he said. “This is the first regatta this year where we have used all our best kit.” Although the 49er is a strict one-design, subtle differences in mast bend and sail shapes can give sailors a tiny edge that can make a world of difference off a tight start line.

The body language around the boat park afterwards reflected the wildly different emotions that the crews were feeling. But Christoffer Sundby was ecstatic. We were nervous today because we knew we would have to fight.” Bovim added: “After the first race nothing was decided, so we had to focus on the next race."

It has been double celebration for the Sundby family this past week, as Christoffer’s sister Siren won the Europe Worlds a few days before. “My sister was very proud. She was out on the water today. It was great to have a support boat like this one.”

An offshore breeze picked up to about 14 knots, which made for a picture book finish to the event, although the race committee, which has run the event without fault all week, made the bizarre decision of shortening the last race at the final windward mark. With the points so close between 2nd and 5th positions, who knows what difference an extra four-minute final downwind leg would have made?

Rodion Luka, who has competed in every 49er World Championship since the class began seven years ago, said this was perhaps the best "I think that it is good for the 49er to have its Worlds with the other Olympic classes. It’s good for the sport. It would be better if it happened every year.”

Last year’s World Champion Iker Martinez was on the shore today to see how things would turn out. He had to sit out this Championship after his crew was badly injured during the Spanish Nationals earlier this month. But Martinez believes they will be back on the water in three weeks, and ready for revenge at next year’s 49er World Championships to be held in Athens during April. That will be the last opportunity for nations to qualify for one of the coveted places at the Olympics in August. Meanwhile, eight new countries will be celebrating their inclusion in the 49er event at the Games. They are Norway, Ukraine, Germany, USA, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia, Poland and Austria.

Final Overall Results of Gold Fleet:

1. GBR 2 Christopher Draper/Simon Hiscocks, 42 points
2. NOR 11 Christoffer Sundby/Frode Bovim, 70
3. UKR 5 Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk, 72
4. GBR 3 Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith, 72.6
5. GER 12 Marcus Baur/ Max Groy, 73
6. GBR 30 Stephen Morrison/Ben Rhodes, 93
7. GBR 7 Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh, 94
8. USA 13 Timothy Wadlow/Peter Spaulding, 94
9. BRA 823 Andre Otto Fonseca/Rodrigo Linck Duarte, 101
10. SUI 19 Chris Rast/Christian Steiger, 101