2025 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 European Championships at Thessaloniki, Greece starts Tuesday
by 49er & Nacra 17 Sailing 2 Jun 21:09 BST
3-8 June 2025
2025 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 European Championships © Nikos Pantis
A new chapter begins for the fast doublehanded classes. The Champions from Paris 2024 have mostly either retired or are taking breaks for various reasons, leaving the start of the new quadrennial to a group of sailors who either missed selection or missed medals and are looking to move up the standings.
The Nacra 17 championship is likely to feature the ongoing battle between Gigi Ugolini with Maria Giubilei (ITA) and John Gimson with Anna Burnet (GBR). These friendly rivals have been locked into a podium fight for the past few seasons, and the beginning of 2025 as well. Medium sea breezes with flat water are forecast all week in sunny Thessaloniki, which is perfect for unlocking the power of Nacra 17 racing. The boats are likely going to be able to use all their modes in these conditions. Fast foiling modes upwind, along with higher modes while foiling, and low riding with very high angles should all work in this venue. Teams will have a full arsenal of options to move tactically on the beat and rip downwind, a relatively rare feature of any sailboat racing.
"With the platform so robust and everyone foiling upwind very often, the Nacra 17 is amazing to race. The fleet has spent the last few years figuring out foiling, and now we are able to push since everything on the boat is robust. I can't wait to see if the youngsters have figured out anything new, but otherwise we are excited to get out racing," said John Gimson, the Tokyo Silver medalist.
Returning for their first racing since winning the Silver in Paris are Matteo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco (ARG), who took an extended post-Paris break, in part dealing with some past demons. Also making their first appearance of the season are a new pair of veterans. Sinem Kurtbay with Alican Kaynar (TUR) have joined up, Sinem has formally transferred with Finish federation support, to sail for her other home country, Turkey. Sinem has already competed in two Olympic for Finland, one in the Nacra 17 and previously in the FX, and now looks to get back to the top in a formidable new combination.
Across all the fleets, it is Team Australia that is out in force. The Australian Sailing squad is noticeably looking toward Brisbane 2032 and have four entries of young teams in each of the three events. Theirs is an example of how modern Olympic sailing is taking shape. They have a national coach driven squad mentality, where team members push and support each other in hopes of being the squad on top at the end.
The FX fleet is wide open right now with the plenty of contenders looking to lock up favorite status after a huge fleet retirement. Only 1 and a half teams from the top 10 in Paris are here in Thessaloniki right now. The gold and silver medalists are on elongated breaks, many of the fleet leaders since the FX came to the games have retired after 12 year runs since 2012, and the next generation are ready to step up. More than 20 teams could end up on the podium this week, making for an open field. It is rare to see so much turnover in an Olympic fleet, meaning there are greater opportunities for upward mobility and the rewards that comes with that.
The 49er fleet has also had significant turnover since Paris, though to a lesser extent than in the FX. Only 3 teams from the top 10 in Paris are here this week. They include 2024 European Champions, Hernando Umpierre with Fernando Diz (URU) and 2024 World Champions Fischer / Pequin (FRA), through in this case it is World Champion Erwan Fischer stepping out of the boat leaving brother Kevin Fischer to take over while his partner has recently given birth to their first child.
The fourth-place finisher from Paris, Robert Dickson with Sean Waddilove (IRL) are the top-ranked team who have not really taken much of a break, looking to make the push through to LA. They and dozens of other teams are looking to use this first championship of the quad to jumpstart their support and ambition for three years' time.
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Racing runs from June 3-8, 2025.