Tough conditions in Brest

03/11/2022

The competition resumed in the morning in solid conditions for the athletes, with an established wind of around 20 knots increasing to 32 knots in the afternoon races.

In the women's U19 category, Israeli Tamar STEINBERG retained 1st place, while Czech Kristyna PINOSOVA passed Norwegian Oda SVERRE to take 3rd place overall, followed by her compatriot Tuva OPPEDAL, completing the European podium. The first French woman, Manon GIRE, remains in the race by taking the 11th place.
On the boys' side, the British Charlie Dixon, leader until then, drops to 8th position, replaced by the Italian Manolo MODENA who was ranked 3rd at the end of the first day. The Dutchman Hidde VAN DER MEER takes 2nd position, followed by the Australian Harry JOYNER and the Spanish Nacho BALTASAR SUMMERS. The technicality of the competitors was put to the test today on the water where waves complicated the race, as Dutchman Hidde explains: "It was super difficult to control the board. There were a lot of crashes but it was still race-able! On the third race, the wind and waves increased even more, which made the race super hard! It was mythical! The race committee decided to send us ashore because it was really getting almost out of control!"

The provisional podium in the men's U17 category is entirely European, with Frenchman Noé GARANDEAU retaining his first place as he had hoped, followed by Polish Maciej DABEK and Frenchman Antoine MARTIN, who "thanks to his size in this wind" was able to "attack the two races this morning with confidence in himself and his preparation, which makes for good races despite a fall in the first race and some seaweed in the second. These qualifying heats allowed him to race in the golden fleet in the afternoon, where "a fall on the first race puts him in 5th place and a clean run on the second puts him in 2nd." Antoine remains focused on the next stage with an eye on first place: "it's attainable even if Noé is tough! In any case, everything will be decided in the final on Saturday, so I'll have to try to stay ahead to guarantee myself a place in the semi-final. To be continued!"
The French are well represented in the top 15 in the U17 category, with Gadeyne LUCAS in 5th place, Kylian MANHAVAL in 12th and Lenny ACHLIF in 15th. Excellent results for the boys but also for the girls, where Juliette NAPOLEONE takes the 2nd place in the general ranking behind the Turkish Ada TAN. The Israeli Romi KAMINER is in 3rd place, followed by the Spanish Caterina TOMAS CARDELL and the Polish Maria RUDOWICZ respectively in 2nd and 3rd place in the European ranking. Four other French women are present in the top 15, with Faustine GALLIC and Clotilde DUMONT FOURMANOIR in 8th and 9th positions, then Cassandre AIASSA and Zoé FEUERSTEIN in 13th and 14th positions.
Thursday the competition continues, with races starting at 10am with a much lighter forecast the intention is to do some slalom.