Botín/Trittel will enter the final series from fourth place, while Konitzer/Torrado climb to eighth. In 49er FX, Barceló/Cantero are third, just one point behind the leaders.
DID YOU LIKE THIS CONTENT? WELL... YOU HAVE ALL OF OUR FULL PROGRAMS HERE!Spanish crews continue to fight for podium positions at the 49er and 49er FX World Championships. After the third day of competition in Italian waters off the island of Sardinia, Paula Barceló and María Cantero are third, one point behind the leaders, while Diego Botín and Florian Trittel remain fourth. Additionally, Conrad Konitzer and Antonio Torrado have broken into the top ten. Tomorrow in Cagliari, the final series for both categories will begin.
Diego Botín (RCM Santander) and Florian Trittel (CN El Balís) maintain a strong pace in fourth place, just six points behind the leaders, Australians Jack Fergurson and Jack Hildebrand, and only one point behind the Polish team Mikolaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch and the Dutch duo Bart Lambriex and Floris Van de Werken, who are tied for second and third.
With a 15th, a 3rd, and a 2nd in yesterday’s partial races (October 9), the reigning Olympic champions approach tomorrow’s final series knowing that high scores will become more valuable for all crews.
After yesterday’s races, Trittel commented that it was “another day with epic conditions in Cagliari, with small waves and light to moderate winds.” The Catalan sailor admitted that they struggled to read the wind pattern in the first race but managed to figure it out in the second and third. “Our goal in the qualifying series was to avoid a big discard, and we partly achieved that. We’re where we need to be now, and tomorrow the World Championship truly begins with the final series,” he added.
Like Botín and Trittel, the team of Conrad Konitzer from Club Nàutic s’Arenal and Anto Torrado (RCN Torrevieja) also performed well, finishing a 3rd, 12th, and 4th in yesterday’s races. These results propelled them up the leaderboard from 16th to 8th, entering the coveted top-ten club.
“We’re very happy to reach the finals in the top ten,” explained the Mallorcan skipper, “but the points are so close that there’s not much difference between being in or out. In the finals, everything starts again, so the key will be good starts, maintaining speed, and avoiding major mistakes to stay consistent. In any case, we’re happy, at the last World Championship we had only recently started sailing together, and since then we’ve put in many hours, aiming to reach the gold group, which we’ve achieved here.”
His teammate Anto Torrado highlighted that it was an intense day in Cagliari waters: “The conditions were tricky and changeable, so we had to pay close attention to the course in each race. The fleet is extremely competitive, no one gives anything away. One of the keys to staying near the top has been keeping calm and avoiding errors that could immediately take you out of contention. Conrad and I have grown a lot as a team, and we’re excited for what’s next, continuing to push race by race.”
It was not a good day for brothers Martín and Jaime Wizner (RCN Vigo). A combination of poor decisions and a retirement in the last race, in which they made an error that wasn’t penalized on the spot, forcing them to withdraw upon reaching shore, dropped the Galician sailors to 42nd, leaving them out of the gold group for the final series.
Young sailors Pol and Alex Marsans (CN Arenys de Mar) are currently 48th in a leaderboard featuring the 84 best 49er crews in the world.
Balearic sailor Paula Barceló and Canarian María Cantero remain on the 49er FX World Championship podium, in third place, just one point behind the leaders, Swedish team Vilma Bobeck and Ebba Berntsson, and Canadians Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance. Their partial results were a 1st, 7th, and 8th, representing the pre-Olympic squad of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and their clubs CN Arenal and RCN Gran Canaria.
The other two Spanish crews also made the cut for the gold group in the final series. Galician Patricia Suárez and Mallorcan Melanie Henke are 16th, just ahead of Canarian duo Alicia Fras and Elena Barrio. Both teams performed strongly in Cagliari, including a race win for the RCN Gran Canaria representatives and a second place for the RCN Vigo/RCN Palma duo.
In the Nacra 17 World Championship, young sailors Daniel and Nora García de la Casa began the final series ranked among the best of the silver group. With an 8th, 4th, and 7th in yesterday’s races, they sit 5th in their group and 25th overall.
The pre-Olympic team of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation is funded by the Spanish National Sports Council, the Spanish Olympic Committee, and Universo Mujer, and sponsored by Iberdrola and Quirónprevención. Official suppliers include Azul Marino, Murimar Seguros, Nippon Express, Marinepool, and Enovis.
The Balearics keep leading the Spanish sailing marketA change in the wind makes Saura and Llopis win the first Snipe’s Autumn Cup round 
