Balearic Triumph at the ILCA 6 Youth European Championship

The ILCA 6 Youth European Championship was held in Thessaloniki, Greece, with a total of 12 races completed in varying conditions throughout the week. The Spanish team delivered an excellent performance, securing three medals: overall bronze and men’s U17 silver for Nikko Palou, women’s U17 bronze for Francisca Puig, and a fifth-place finish in the women’s overall category for Gabriela Morell.

The continental youth championship for this class, which is pre-Olympic for the boys and Olympic for the girls, brought together 225 male sailors in the Aegean Sea, divided into four fleets, and 89 female sailors, split across two fleets. The full programme was completed, comprising six qualifying races and six final-series races.

In the men’s fleet, Mallorca’s Nikko Palou (RCN Palma), a member of the Spanish national team, once again demonstrated his high competitive level. Three years ago, he had already finished runner-up at the Optimist European Championship in the same waters off Thessaloniki. He remained among the leading sailors throughout the event, and a fourth-place finish in the final Gold Fleet race secured him fourth place overall, an even more remarkable achievement given that he competes in the U17 category. Brazil’s Erik Scheidt won the open championship, while the European title went to Czech sailor Jiri Tomes, also an U17 competitor, who finished second overall. With overall bronze and U17 silver, Palou confirms his status as one of the leading prospects in Spanish youth sailing.

The next Spanish sailor in the men’s standings was David Sales, who finished 21st overall and 18th in the European classification.

In the women’s category, fellow Balearic sailor Gabriela Morell (RCN Palma) finished sixth overall and secured fifth place in the European Championship. The Mallorcan sailor was crowned women’s U17 European champion last year in Vilamoura, Portugal, making this an outstanding result in her first season in the U19 category.

In the women’s U17 category, Francisca Puig (RCN Palma) claimed the bronze medal after finishing 21st overall, thanks to an excellent end to the championship in the Gold Fleet. Her performance left her very close to Turkey’s Derin Bartan, the women’s U17 European runner-up.

The work of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and its national teams, including the pre-Olympic squad and the 2032 team, is made possible by the support of a strong network of institutions and companies committed to sailing, the sport that has delivered more Olympic gold medals for Spain than any other.