420 Junior European Championship at Vilagarcia de Arousa - Overall
by International 420 Class Association 31 Jul 2019 15:30 BST
23-30 July 2019
Zofia Korsak/Karolina Cendrowska (POL) win U19 Open Bronze and U19 Women Gold © Event Media
A patience game on the final day of the 420 Junior European Championships in Spain on Tuesday 30 July, as teams were postponed ashore waiting for the breeze to fill in.
The 420 U19 gold fleet and U17 fleet headed out to the race track, but in the fickle breeze only the U19 gold fleet could get a single race completed rather than the scheduled two.
With the podiums decided, celebrations continued at the Medal Ceremony and Sailors' after party in Vilagarcia.
420 U19 open and women
With just one race on the cards, Conrad Konitzer/Fernando Rodriguez (ESP) knew they were untouchable and had gold in the bag, so opted to keep clear of the chasing pack and let the other teams fight it out for silver and bronze. Whilst the leaders finished in 40th place, steaming through the fleet to take the race win were Zofia Korsak/Karolina Cendrowska of Poland who triumphed to claim the third place overall and the U19 Women gold.
Catching up with Korsak/Cendrowsk after having time to contemplate their medals, Zofia was as ecstatic as ever, saying, "Oh my god - this is my amazing! I am feeling very, very good. I don't know how to explain this. It is the best moment in my life. I still don't believe this is happening."
Karolina added, "It is too amazing I am really happy, I am smiling all the time."
The pair saved their best to last, nailing the final race win and the gold medals on the final downwind leg. "First we were not so good, as our start was not so good, but it didn't matter," explained Zofia, "as then we were just doing our job. It was very shifty and we used it to our advantage."
They put their succes down to, "good communication in the boat, especially in stressed moments", explained Sofia, before Karolina chipped in, adding, "And our spinnaker legs are very good!"
Their season is a long way from over, and after partying with friends tonight, the Polish partnership will take a 6 day break before heading into a series of Sprint Cup events in Poland culminating in the Polish National Championships. They were 470 Women U17 Junior European silver medallists last year, so a fantastic achievement to transition to senior fleet 420 racing and medal again.
A sixth place finish by Jacobo Garcia/Antoni Ripoll was enough to given them the silver medal in the men/mixed fleet and Martin Wizner/Pedro Ameneiro (ESP) took to the men/mixed bronze.
Spain's Marina Garau/Blanca Cabot finished 9th overall and claim silver as the second placed women's team, with Greece's Melina Pappa/Maria Tsamopoulou in 11th and picking up bronze.
Italian sisters Carlotta Scodnik/Camilla Scodnik won the silver fleet.
420 U19 Overall Results: (top ten)
1. Conrad KONITZER/Fernando RODRIGUEZ (ESP 56259) - 61 pts
2. Jacobo GARCIA/Antoni RIPOLL (ESP 56675) - 79 pts
3. Zofia KORSAK/Karolina CENDROWSKA (POL 56370) - 81 pts
4. Martin WIZNER/Pedro AMENEIRO (ESP 56005) - 85 pts
5. Aviv ROZEN/Tomer HENDEL (ISR 56457) - 96 pts
6. Amit BILIA/Gilad CAIN (ISR 56785) - 104 pts
7. Tal SADE/Noam HOMERI (ISR 54121) - 106 pts
8. Odysseas SPANAKIS/Konstaninos MICHALOPOULOS (GRE 56478) - 115 pts
9. Marina GARAU/Blanca CABOT (ESP 56762) - 121 pts
10. Alessandro CALDARI/Federico CALDARI (ITA 56727) - 122 pts
420 U17 open and women
No racing in the U17 fleet awarded the medals based on the previous days results, with gold to France's Ange Delerce/Timothee Rossi by 3 points over Spain's Antonio Martino/Joan Catala who scooped silver and bronze to Italy's Oscar Pouschè/Luca Coslovich.
"This Championship has been very difficult," said Delerce. "but we are very happy because we are U17 Junior European Champions."
Finishing in 6th overall rewarded the USA's Vanessa Lahrkamp/Katherine Mcnamara with the U17 Women's gold to add to their U17 420 Women's Worlds silver medal earlier this month. A 9th place gave Women's silver to Spain's Neus Ballester/Andrea Perello to match their silver from the Youth Worlds ten days ago, and bronze to Israel's Noga Esther Tiano/Eden Gur in 13th overall.
420 U17 Overall Results: (top ten)
1. Ange DELERCE/Timothee ROSSI (FRA 56650) - 52 pts
2. Antonio MARTINO/Joan CATALA (ESP 56150) - 55 pts
3. Oscar POUSCHÈ/Luca COSLOVICH (ITA 56771) - 60 pts
4. Jacob DEDES/Aimilios SPANOPOULOS (GRE 56273) - 61 pts
5. Alberto MORALES/Miguel BETHENCOURT (ESP 56600) - 67 pts
6. Vanessa LAHRKAMP/Katherine MCNAMARA (USA 56364) - 70 pts
7. Lampis GIANNOULIS/Simos MICHALOPOULOS (GRE 54484) - 78 pts
8. Corentin TABORE/Oscar DUTEURTRE (FRA 56721) - 89 pts
9. Neus BALLESTER/Andrea PERELLO (ESP 56769) - 89 pts
10. Federico FIGLIA DI GRANARA/Riccardo FIGLIA DI GRANARA (ITA 56335) - 111 pts