2004 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships overall

Action from the 2004 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Poland © Peter Bentley

Action from the 2004 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Poland © Peter Bentley

Double gold and triple bronze medals for GBR youth sailors

Great Britain have put in a fantastic performance at the 2004 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, Poland, to win two gold and three bronze medals and finish runner up in the battle for top nation.

In the Laser class Nick Thompson from Lymington kept a cool head on the final day. Rounding the windward mark first he carefully covered his opposition, making sure he was not robbed of the gold medal. His tactics worked and he was rewarded with the gold medal, winning by ten points from Towci Stipanovic of Croatia. Simon Groteluschen of Germany won the bronze medal.

Thompson said, “I am over the moon. There was a lot of tension going into the final day so I am really pleased that I pulled it off as I have been working really hard for this event. There has been a great team atmosphere this week and I think that has really helped as we have all been encouraging each other.”

Gold also went to Tom Phipps and Jonathan Cook in the Hobie 16 class. The young British pairing from Falmouth sailed a great week, leading for most of the championship, so were delighted when a final second place gave them the overall win.

Phipps commented, “We were really nervous this morning going into the final days racing but we are so happy to have won. We were hoping for a top three result here so we can not believe that we won the gold.”

Phipps and Cook won by two points from Julien Villion and Martin Bataille of France with Juan Maegli and Jason Hess of Guatemala third.

To compliment the two golds, Great Britain also won three bronze medals;

After finishing fifth at this event last year, Charlotte Dobson from Helensburgh was determined to better this result and her determination won through. Sarah Steyaert of France put in a convincing win in the class, but Dobson fought all the way and was happy to settle for bronze medal position just behind Jo Aleh of New Zealand.

The Brits put in a final charge in the 420 fleet and both the girls and boys will be leaving Poland with bronze medals around their necks. After a slightly shaky start Jonathan McGovern (Hollingworth Lake) and Stuart Bithell (Rochdale) put in the results when it counted and after scoring a number of top five results won the bronze medal just behind Thomas and Mathieu Rahier of France. Nathan Outteridge sailing with Iain Jensen for Australia put in a convincing performance to win his third youth gold medal.

Fellow 420 sailors Pippa Wilson (Lymington) and Harriette Trumble (London) also put in a great performance to win the bronze medal just behind Lydia Koppin and Kristina Kummer of Germany. Again the Australians dominated with Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson winning the gold.

In the Mistral classes, Richard Potter (Nottingham) just missed out on the medals finishing in fifth place overall with fellow Mistral sailor Jilly Bromley (Flintshire) tenth.

RYA Youth Squads Manager (and Team Manager at the event) Simon Wergen said, “I am absolutely delighted. The team have done extremely well and ground it out in the second half of the championship when it really counted. They have all worked really hard and I am very proud of every one of them.”

The combination of these performances saw Great Britain finish runner-up in the Volvo Trophy for best overall nation just behind France. Despite just missing out on the Trophy, the RYA Team GBR Youth Worlds Team can be proud that they won the biggest medal haul for Great Britain at a Youth Worlds Championship.

RYA Racing Manager John Derbyshire summed up the performance saying, “It is a terrific result for Great Britain’s youth sailing with personal bests by sailors in all seven events. This result reflects well on the change made to the youth programme since the introduction of Lottery Funding and will provide future Olympic classes with medal winning sailors.”

French Youth Sailing team lift Volvo Trophy

Despite Great Britain winning the final two unclaimed Gold medals today at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, being held on the waters of Gdynia, Poland, the French team lifted the Volvo Trophy for best team overall performance.

Yves Leger, French Team leader commented on his team’s result, ‘The team have worked really hard in preparation for this championship and their consistent results over all the classes has reflected this. Sarah Steyaert won France’s only individual gold medal in the girls Laser class, which shows her determination. I am extremely proud of the team.’

France won one gold and three silver medals but it was the British that walked away with the greatest number of medals – two gold and three bronze.

British Team manager, Simon Wergan, commented, ‘To go into the final day of racing and know that a number medals are within the team’s reach and to walk away with two gold and three bronze is just a fantastic achievement. This is the best result that the British team has had at the Youth World Championship for a number of years. I am so proud of the mature way in which the sailors have handled themselves this week.’

Australia and Poland both gained two Gold medals. Craig Ferris, Australia Team leader, said, ‘It was a great team effort and I am extremely chuffed! I am especially proud of the 420 teams, who both won gold medals, Elise & Tessa now are moving into the 470 Olympic Training squad and will aim for the 2008 Olympic Games.’

British Hobie sailors, Tom Phipps and Jonathan Cook (15), finished two points ahead of the French boat at the end of 12 races to claim the gold medal. The ecstatic duo credited hard training for their success. Despite Julien Villion (16) and Martin Bataille (15) (FRA) winning today’s race they had to be content with second place. It is likely that these boys will continue to meet out on the race course for many years to come as all want to move onto Olympic Tornado sailing.

Nick Thompson, the 18 year old British sailor took the Gold medal in the Laser fleet. He said, ‘I came to this World Championship with the aim of winning a medal, so am really pleased to be going home with Gold. This medal is so important, as it qualifies me for the Olympic Development funding programme, which means I can now focus on going to the 2008 Olympic Games’.

Overall Results:

Hobie Cat 16
1, Tom Phipps/Jonathan Cook, GBR (2,1,(DSQ),1,2,1,3,1,1,2,(7),2) 16 pts
2, Julien Villion/Martin Bataille, FRA ((DNF),3,2,2,1,2,1,(4),2,3,1,1) 18 pts
3, Juan Maegli/Jason Hess, GUA (1,2,2,3,(DSQ),3,2,2,5,6,(9),8) 33 pts

Mistral girls
1, Zofia Klepacka, POL (1,1,1,1,1,(2),1,1,1,1,1,(DNF)) 10 pts
2, Sophie Anne Le Page, FRA (2,(4),3,3,2,1,2,2,2,2,(OCS),3) 22 pts
3, Laura Linares, ITA (3,2,(5),4,5,3,3,(7),5,3,2,4) 34 pts
GBR
10, Jilly Bromley ((DNF),9,10,DNF,8,7,4,8,8,11,7,(DNF)) 86 pts

Mistral boys
1, Kamil Lewandowski, POL (2,1,4,15,(OCS),1,1,1,1,1,3,(DNF)) 30 pts
2, Nimrod Esposito, ISR ((9),7,5,2,(OCS),4,3,8,3,3,4,2) 41 pts
3, Federica Esposito, ITA (6,2,6,1,2,2,(9),(10),6,5,7,5) 42 pts
GBR
5, Richard Potter, GBR (1,4,8,5,1,5,2,(13),(16),7,11,6) 50 pts

Laser Radial girls
1, Sarah Steyaert, FRA (1,1,(8),2,(9),4,1,1,5,2,4,(DNC)) 29 pts
2, Jo Aleh, NZL (2,5,1,8,(10),9,(13),2,6,7,3,5) 48 pts
3, Charlotte Dobson, GBR (17,3,2,1,8,3,4,(OCS),7,4,2,(20)) 51 pts

Laser boys
1, Nick Thompson, GBR (4,2,4,1(10),5,1,(13),1,(DNF),6,3) 37 pts
2, Towci Stipanovic, CRO (3,(BFD),5,4,11,1,(DSQ),7,8,1,1,6) 47 pts
3, Simon Groteluschen, GER (2,9,3,6,(15),4,4,(19),4,2,7,11) 52 pts

420 boys
1, Nathan Outteridge/Iain Jensen, AUS (1,2,1,4,1,2,1,5,(15),3,1,(6)) 21 pts
2, Thomas Rahier/Mathieu Rahier, FRA (3,3,2,8,7,5,(19),6,2,8,(14),7) 51 pts
3, Jonathan McGovern/Stuart Bithell, GBR (9,5,8,5,13,(15),4,4,1,6,2,(23)) 62 pts

420 girls
1, Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson, AUS (1,1,2,1,(11),1,8,1,2,2,1,(19)) 20 pts
2, Lydia Koppin/Kristina Kummer, GER (5,(22),6,3,3,3,7,2,5,7,4,(9)) 45 pts
3, Pippa Wilson/Harriette Trumble, GBR (2,(20),14,8,2,(15),4,4,3,1,2,13) 53 pts

Volvo Trophy (Best Overall Nation)

1, France 400 pts
2, Great Britain 400 pts
3, Australia 378 pts

For further information visit the event website www.worldyouthsailingpoland.com