470 Junior World Championship 2026 at Gdynia, Poland - Day 4
by International 470 Class Association 17 Jul 09:03 BST
11-17 July 2026
Another long day on the water at the 470 Junior World Championships in Gdynia. The day started on time, but the rest of the schedule brought a few surprises.
Racing was interrupted after the first race due to a lack of wind, and the fleets had to wait a long time for the breeze to return. In the end, the race committee managed to complete two races for the Gold Fleet and three races for the Silver Fleet.
Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel started the day with a strong performance, finishing second in the first race and moving back into the overall lead. The race also saw several black flag disqualifications. Among them were Roy Levy and Ariel Gal, who were disqualified with a BFD after starting too early. That mistake proved costly.
The battle for the top places became even closer in the second race, which was won by Slovenia's Martin Fras and Mija Škerlavaj. Valade and Bunel finished fourth, while the Roy Levy and Ariel Gal crossed the line in seventh place.
Going into the final day, the French team holds the overall lead, with Israel team in second place.
Ukraine's Sviatoslav Madonich and Yelyzaveta Vasylenko sit 11th overall, just two points outside the top 10. Competing together in their first major regatta as a team, the pair said communication has been the key to their performance. "The most important thing was to communicate more, understand what we needed to do together and how to talk to each other," said Madonich. Despite the challenging light-wind conditions and strong competition, he described the championship as "a really great experience" and said the team is pleased with its performances so far.
In the U21 category, Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio, the strongest team in the fleet, continued their consistent performance at the front. They finished sixth and second in today's races and remain firmly in contention. Israel's Tehila Sidis and Amitai Levkovitz hold second place in the U21 standings, while New Zealand's Tessa Clinton and Will Mason are third.
Everything is still open ahead of the final races. With the points now reset, anything can happen tomorrow.
Plan for the day:
1200 Bib Ceremony & Coaches + Medal Skippers Briefing
1230 Medal Series Pitlane
1330 First possible warning signal, Last Race
1400 First possible warning signal, Medal Series