Vladimir Krutskikh aiming to defend his title in Finn World Masters at CN El Balís
by Jaume Soler Alberti 20 May 2018 19:52 BST
21-25 May 2018
All set at CN El Balís for the Finn World Masters © Laura Carrau / CN El Balis
The Finn World Masters Championship will start on Monday, May 21st at CN El Balís with a large participation that almost matches the record set two years ago at Lago di Garda (Italy) when 355 participants competed in the event. This time El Balís' waterfront will host 353 participants from 32 countries.
Russian Vladimir Krutskikh will defend his world championship at CN El Balís. He has won the event in 2017 in Barbados and 2015 in Kavala (Greece). Krutskikh, who has conquered the world master championships twice, is the reference of an event in which other favorites include Christoph Burger, Piet Eckert and Thierry Van Viersse.
Participants are divided in five categories. Masters and Grand Masters will have 141 participants, while 97 signed in for the Grand-Grand Masters category. The Legends group will have a record participation with 48 as well as the Super-Legends in which five participants will compete.
Seven races will be held with two taking place on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and one on Wednesday. On Friday, the top 10 places will participate in the Medal Race to decide the 2018 Finn World Masters Championship podium. There will also be a final race that will include the rest of participants, starting with the one placed 11th.
The Spanish fleet formed by 24 participants includes Finn Gold Cup and World Championship winners Joaquín Blanco (Palamós 1977) and José Luis Doreste (Kiel 1987), who also won the gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Both of them will race in the Legends category. Pedro Jiménez-Meifren will be amongst the Super-Legends.
Preview practice and opening ceremony
Club Náutico El Balís hosted today an event preview practice and the opening ceremony of the Finn World Masters Championship, in which authorities welcomed all participants. Club president Fran Ripoll highlighted the important number of people who have come as participants and companions, which surpasses 500, as well as the 180 people involved in the event organization.
Sant Andreu de Llavaneres mayor Joan Mora explained the meaning of hosting the event for the city: "Our town has very close ties with water sports and sailing competitions, having hosted many events of this type". He added: "I want to express my recognition to the job done by Club Náutico El Balís and all his personnel, because it is a leader in the education of our athletes and in the promotion of this sport".