Techno293 European Championships - here we go!
Perfect racing on the Baltic today in frisky conditions, but super warm local welcome.
The steady wind enabled the Race Committee to launch all the divisions for 3 rounds of opening day racing, with another 12 rounds planned for all the next 4 days.
We’ve had some great energy coming from the competitors and a super friendly welcome from the local windsurfers onsite. Especially nice to see is the fleet of U13s, who wanted to get involved in the class too. For them this year, for the first time, we will have an Under 13s European Champion, and it could be a boy or a girl, unlike the other fleets they are all competing together.
It's early days in the overall rankings, plenty can and certainly will change before Saturday afternoon. But already it’s good to see no less than 7 different nations occupying podium positions, some with more positions than others!
In the U13 division, of the 25 entrants the top 3 consists of 2 Italians, Mathias Bortolotti and Pierluigi Caproni, followed by Latvia’s Viljams Preiss. The top placed girl is next in the rankings, 4th placed Mariia Tinyakova from Russia.
U15 Girls is currently a Poland 1-2-3, Maria Rudowicz, Maja Pomierska and Sonia Maliszewska. The other 33 entrants are now playing catch-up.
42 U15 Boys started the races today, and at the end of 3 rounds it’s another Italian success story with Tiberio Riccini leading, from Israel’s Itamar Levi and Russian rapido Dmitrii Nestorenko. All the same, there are just 2 points separating 2nd from 5th. For now.
The U17 Girls fleet, 36 of them, are currently being headed by Poland’s Nadia Kulik, chased by Russian rider Ovchinnikova Polina and Spain’s Barbara Winau-Ordinas.
More joy for Spain in the U17 Boys contest, where Billy-James Coll-Tulloch is occupying 3rd spot, behind Italy’s Fedrico Pilloni and Greece’s Petros Kontarinis, 1st and 2nd respectively, in a fleet of 42.
Great news from the Techno Plus division, with nearly 50 riders spread over the 2 fleets. For now, in the Men’s fleet, more good news for Italy, with Daivide Antognoli and Alessandro Gracciotti currently 1-3, and Greek rider Meletios Kalpogiannakis in 2nd. The women’s fleet day 1 leader is Turkey’s Merve Vatan, she’s followed by Russia’s Daria Bannaya, Greece’s Emilia Kosta.
Phew! It’s been a great first day, and 4 more to come! The forecast for tomorrow is challenging with strong offshore wind, so keep yourself up to date with all the action as it happens, results, news, updates, videos, photos… You know where to look, you’re already there!