Cruel medal races

06/11/2022

Fifteen knots of wind blew over the harbour throughout the day, where spectators came to watch the different races despite the capricious weather. In addition to the announcer's commentary, the competition was broadcast in the racers' village, allowing people to follow the progress of the rankings, armed with a good butter pancake.

After a week of tough competition in conditions ranging from no wind to gale force winds, the champions stood out from the crowd. In the men's under 19 category, it was the Englishman Charlie DIXON who made a great comeback after falling to 8th place, and won the title, dethroning the Italian Manolo MODENA, leader since the 3rd day, who is now second in the championship. The podium is completed by Hiddie VAN DER MEER, who battled in the standings all week with Spanish rider Nacho BALTASAR SUMMERS, who finishes 5th after British rider Boris SHAW. The Dutch rider tells us how he felt about the week: "I'm very happy with my place on the podium, of course I wanted to be first, but overall I'm happy with my performance!" The French Elliot PONCE finishes in 13th position. In the U19 women's category, Norway's Tuva OPPEDAL took first place overall, ahead of Israel's Tamar STEINBERG who led the competition all week. The Slovenian Lina ERZEN takes the 3rd place, while the Czech Krystina PINOSOVA who had good results all week finishes at the foot of the podium. The Frenchwoman Manon GIRE, who had only just entered the medal race, finished in 9th place.

A big surprise in the U17 men's event, with the Polish Igor LEWINSKI, who had been in 3rd place until then, winning the championships, overtaking the French Noé GARANDEAU, who had been leading all week. This small disappointment is largely compensated by the performance of the tricolors: after Noé vice champion, Antoine MARTIN takes the 3rd place well deserved with a beautiful regularity throughout this week, followed by Lucas GADEYNE who takes back a place. In addition to this magnificent triple in the top 5, the Frenchman Kylian MANHAVAL wins the competition in the under 15 category. He is followed by the Turkish Artun SENOL, and the Italian Mattia SAONCELLA. In the women's U17 category, the Turkish Ada TAN took back her 1st place ahead of the Polish Maria RUDOWICZ. A great performance for these two young women as they run in the lower category, thus taking the first two places in the U15 category. The Israeli Romi KAMINER finishes 3rd, while the two French girls Faustine GALLIC and Cassandre AIASSA finish 4 and 5 overall. 3 other French girls are in the top 15: Clotilde DUMONT-FOURMANOIR takes the 9th position, while Juliette NAPOLEONE drops to the 10th place, after having reached the 2nd place on the 3rd day, then having maintained the 5th place until Friday.