A total of 148 sailors from 36 countries will compete from Monday, the 19th, until January 24th in the waters of Lanzarote, in the ILCA class U21 World Championship, one of the major events on the international youth sailing calendar. … The event, which will be held in Marina Rubicón, once again places the island as a reference venue for Olympic sailing.
The competition will take place on a highly demanding regatta course, known for its technical conditions and stable wind, ideal for testing the future promises of world sailing. The fleet is divided into two categories: ILCA 7 (men), with 96 athletes from 33 countries, and ILCA 6 (women), with 52 sailors from 23 nationalities.
The U21 World Cup presents a very high level of participation. In the ILCA 7 fleet, the Israelis Reem Pulci Magen and Omer Vered Vilenchik stand out as the main contenders for the title, along with the Danish Mark Hestbæck and the Polish Filip Olszewski, both of whom were in the top ten of the last U-21 World Cup. Also one of the names to follow will be the Italian Alessandro Cirinei, current ILCA 6 youth world champion, as well as the Croatian Josip Tafra, youth world runner-up.
Spain will be widely represented, with 27 sailors registered, of which ten are part of the pre-Olympic team and the 2032 team of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation. Karol Krupski (CV Puerto Andratx), a member of the pre-Olympic team, will compete in ILCA 7, along with the sailors of the 2032 team Fernando Abella (CAR Infanta Cristina), Tim Lubat (RCN Palma), Sergio García (RCN Palma) and Daniel Giménez (CV Puerto Andratx).
In the ILCA 6 women’s fleet the competitive level is once again very high, with top sailors such as the Italian Ginevra Caracciolo, European U21 champion; the American Isabella Mendoza Cabezas; the Greek Hermione Ghicas, current youth world champion; and the Spanish Marga Perelló and Adriana Castro, all of them within the top ten in the last edition of the championship. Adding to this group is the Valencian Irene de Tomás, 2025 youth world champion, who arrives in Lanzarote as one of the great candidates for the medals.
The sports program includes six days of regattas. After the opening ceremony held on Saturday and today’s Sunday dedicated to registration, material inspection and training regatta, the official tests will be held from tomorrow, Monday until Saturday the 24th. A program of two daily regattas is planned, starting at 12:00 p.m., until completing a maximum of twelve tests that will decide the new U21 world champions of the ILCA class.
