Optimist World Championships after 11 races

Martinique - Les Trois Ilets
14-25 July 1999

Stipanovic Responds Well to Pressich Pressure as Fantela Fades

Yesterday’s lay day must have provided little or no relaxation for the main contenders for the Optimist world crown. Despite having posted four firsts, a second and a third in his first eight races, Mattia Pressich knew that he could afford only one more bad result after his disqualification from race three.

Stipanovic, on the other hand, has his two discards intact and a fourteenth and eleventh posted as his worst results. Starting today only ten points behind the Italian, he must have sensed the championship was well within his grasp. Fantela, too, began today’s racing third overall with a tenth and a thirteenth counting against him.

In a steady Force four that stayed constant in strength and direction throughout the day, Pressich performed steadily if not spectacularly to register a third, an eleventh and a twelfth in races nine, ten eleven respectively. The twelfth he discarded along with his DSQ to leave himself with a very healthy looking scorecard - 32 points. It proved to be enough to retain the lead.

Having opened his day with a victory, Tonci Stipanovic finished sixth in race ten but race eleven went very badly for the Croatian contender - 45th place - a result that was discarded along with a fourteenth place to leave him still in second overall. Fantela must have been mildly disappointed with twelfth place in race nine so how he might have felt after posting a 22nd and a 28th in races ten and eleven, we can only guess - both results were discarded. However, he slips from third place to sixth - thirty points away from the top - and his world championship dreams will have faded more than a little.

The new face in the top three is Alberto Piaggio of Peru. Victory in the team racing must have encouraged Piaggio immensely for two reasons: the fact that the burden of defending a two year run of victory had been lifted, and the result itself. Piaggio scored a second, a third and discarded his 23rd from race eleven along with a 16th from race six to leave him just ten points from Pressich.

With only a few races left before the championship is decided, the picture at the top is becoming clearer. However, all of the sailors will know that the fate that appears to have befallen Fantela awaits all of them should their concentration fade for just a few moments.

Provisional Results after 11 Races :

Pos Name              Sail N°  Pts
----------------------------------
 1  Mattia Pressich   ITA 5301 32
 2  Tonci Stipanovic  CRO 734  34
 3  Alberto Piaggio   PER 184  42
 4  Lucas Calabrese   ARG 2679 59
 5  Mario Coutinho    POR 1111 60
 6  Sime Fantela      CRO 706  62
 7  Ignacio Zalvide   ESP 249  64 
 8  Jonathan Marshall GBR 4648 65
 9  Roberta Borges    BRA 2911 75
10  Anton Dahlberg    SWE 3659 77

STOP PRESS

The General Assembly of the International Optimist Dinghy Association has announced that the Optimist World Championships 2001 will be hosted by Qingdao, China.