Mallorcan sailor Marta Cardona takes the lead in the Mixed 470 European Championship

After the third day of racing in Vilamoura, Silvia Mas and Alejandro de Maqua have moved up to seventh place overall.

The third day of competition for the Spanish pre-Olympic sailing team at the Mixed 470 European Championship brought a very positive outcome: Mallorcan sailor Marta Cardona, from Club Nàutic s’Arenal, and Jordi Xammar climbed two places to take the overall lead, while Silvia Mas, also from CNA, and Alejandro de Maqua rose six places to sit seventh overall. Yesterday, March 11th, in the waters off Vilamoura, in Portugal’s Algarve, two of the three scheduled races were held, with south-southwesterly winds averaging around 10 knots.

At the start of the final series in the waters of the Portuguese town of Vilamoura, the Catalan-Mallorcan crew made up of Jordi Xammar (RCN Barcelona) and Marta Cardona (CN Arenal) proved to be one of the strongest in the Gold fleet. The defending continental champions and current world champions posted a fifth and a first place finish, which, together with the three points they carried over from their standings in the qualifying series under the new competition format being tested at this continental event, lifted them to the top of the leaderboard.

The Spanish crew holds a six-point advantage over their closest rivals, Italians Elena Berta and Giulio Calabró, and an eight-point lead over the third-placed British pair Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris.

Marta Cardona assessed the championship after three days of competition: “It is proving to be a demanding race course, both physically and tactically, so you have to stay very alert. It has been a very long preseason and, after so much time without competing, we may be lacking a little race sharpness, but we have worked well and we feel much better than last year on a technical level.”

The pairing of Silvia Mas (CN Arenal) and Alejandro “Tano” de Maqua (CN El Balís) also performed strongly in the day’s races, with a third and an eighth place, results that paid off in the final series. The Catalan crew climbed six places in the overall standings and now sits seventh, just seven points off the provisional podium.

Meanwhile, the crew from the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation’s 2032 team, made up of Paula Laiseca (RCN Gran Canaria) and Pablo Llorens (RCN Coruña), maintained their pace in the Silver fleet. They are in forty-first place overall after moving up one position, thanks to a twentieth and an eleventh in the day’s races.

Today, Thursday, March 12, the fourth day of the 470 European Championship will take place on the Vilamoura race course, with the continuation of the final series for the Gold and Silver fleets. A maximum of seven races are scheduled in these final series, which will determine the top ten crews that will compete in the medal series, set for Saturday, March 14, the final day of the continental event.

The activity of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and its national teams, including the pre-Olympic team and the 2032 team, is made possible thanks to the support of a strong network of institutions and companies committed to sailing, the sport that has brought Spain the most Olympic gold medals.

The RFEV is sponsored by Iberdrola, Quirónprevención, and Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. Its institutional sponsors are the Higher Sports Council, the Spanish Olympic Committee, and Universo Mujer, together with the Port Authority of Santander and the Government of Cantabria through the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport, Deporte Cantabria, and the Regional Society for Culture and Sport. Its official suppliers are Azul Marino, Nippon Express, Murimar Seguros, Marinepool, and Enovis, while its institutional partners include ADESP and World Sailing.