Palma
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The 51st Princess Sofía Mallorca begins to outline the candidates for the title in its ten classes. The contenders for a place in the long-awaited Medal Race on Saturday consumed their penultimate opportunity to shine today, and the classifications already reduce the list of teams with podium options. After a first half of the championship marked by cold, rain and an atypically winter atmosphere, today the Bay of Palma shone in full sun to offer an extraordinary day of regattas in all classes. The combination of gradient and thermal winds presented intensities of 12-15 knots in the morning and 15-20 in the afternoon, perfect conditions for the sailing show.
Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman reliably defended their leadership of 470 Mixed despite adding their weakest partials of the week today (4+5).
The Spanish couple is the rival to beat in the Gold Group and is eight points ahead of their immediate pursuers, the Italians Giacomo Ferrari and Bianca Caruso.
49er and 49erFX: Botín/Trittel, one point behind the leader
Complete day for the 49er Gold Group, with four tests that caused a dramatic concentration at the head of the provisional. A single point separates the Polish leaders Mikolaj Staniul/Jakub Sztorch from the three-way tie between their American, French and Spanish rivals Diego Botín/Florian Trittel. The tandem formed by the Cantabrian and the Catalan came to the forefront of the standings after adding a second, a third and a fourth, but gave up the lead in the last race with a ninth, the worst partial of the week.
The top 25 from 49erFX (Gold Group) completed four tests in their first final day. Despite puncturing in the last of the day (1+1+3+14), the Dutch Odile Van Aanholt/Annete Duetz remain in front of the provisional. Patricia Suárez and María Cantero, the best ranked Spaniards, dropped four places and are now fourteenth.
iQFOiL: Lamadrid is already third
Olympic windsurfing contested five events in the men’s category and four in the women’s category. Pilar Lamadrid from Seville was the best of the day in iQFOiL Women, chaining two consecutive victories that allowed her to dream of reaching the lead. An off-line in the third race and a 13 in the last of the day slowed down her excellent progress, but the best Spanish representative of the fleet returned to land occupying the provisional third position.
In iQFOiL Men, the five rounds of the day saw Britain’s Andrew Brown take the provisional lead from Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland. Tomás Vieito from Vigo is nineteenth.
Formula Kite: Gisela keeps her options
Gisela Pulido continues to be the best asset of the Spanish squad in the new Formula Kite Women class. The Barcelonan gave up a position thanks to partial 6 + 9, but she remains among the top ten in the category.
In Formula Kite Men, Theo De Ramecourt continues his uncontested mastery lesson. The Frenchman won four of the five races played today in the Gold Group and only gave up one point in the first of the day, although he is aware that he cannot lose concentration in the face of the threat of his compatriot Benoit Gomez, whom he leads by only three points.
Nacra 17: The leader escapes
Another demonstration of power by the current Olympic champions in the Nacra 17 class. The Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti added three victories and one second, and are already 18 points ahead of the British John Gimson and Anna Burnet.
ILCA: Joaquín Blanco, best Spaniard
In ILCA 7, the British Michael Beckett managed to defend his leadership despite an irregular day (14-2) thanks to the also irregular performance of his immediate pursuer, the German Philipp Buhl (1+23). Joaquín Blanco, from the Canary Islands, leads the Spanish participation with an excellent provisional twelfth position.
In ILCA 6, Sarah Douglas stars in the strongest leadership of the entire fleet of the 51 Princesa Sofía Mallorca. The Canadian signed a perfect card and is already 20 points ahead of the Greek Vasileia Karachaliou. Malaga-born Ana Moncada is the best ranked Spaniard, twenty-eighth.
The weather forecast for the fifth day of competition anticipates a new session of extraordinary conditions for sailing. The sun will shine again over the bay of Palma to resolve the penultimate day of regattas and finish defining who will dispute the title in the Medal Races on Saturday.
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