The 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships started on July 14 at the picturesque Riva del Garda, Italy. The up-and-coming sailing talents from across the globe, competing across 11 sailing classes have kicked off their week with stunning conditions.
Racing on Day 1 commenced across all classes when the Ora thermal breeze arrived. Racing was tight across all the courses with the best youth sailors fighting to claim a credible position at this prestigious event.
Day 2 was an action packed day with gusty conditions.
Italy's Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio kept their lead in the men's/mixed 420 fleet despite finishing 14th in the last race of the day. Colin Postel and Théo Henry (FRA) won that race and are now just five points behind the leaders with nine points total.
In the women's 420, Mara Samaržija and Sara Vuletic claimed a brilliant win in their first race of the day and climbed to sixth overall with a third-place finish in the fourth race. Greek duo Giannouli and Kerkezou continue to dominate, winning the final race of the day and ending with four points, seven points ahead of Italy's Margherita Pillan and Giulia Massari in second place.
In the women's skiff, Ireland's Clementine Van Steenberge and Jessica Riordan had a perfect start in race three and are in second place overall heading into Wednesday. The race standings were highly competitive, with no team finishing in the top five in all three windy races. Annabelle Vines and Amelie Hiscocks of Great Britain hold a two-point lead over the fleet, while Switzerland's Malena Rüegge and Liv Wicki, who led on day one, dropped to fourth.
In the men's/mixed 29er, Poland's Ewa Lewandowska and Krzysztof Królik repeated their outstanding performance from Monday with two wins and a second-place finish. Finian Morris and Charlie Gran from Great Britain are their closest rivals, trailing by 12 points with 18 points overall.
Alina Shapovalova (UKR) and Italy's Maria Vittoria Arseni each secured a win in the women's ILCA 6. Shapovalova remains the sailor to beat, holding a two-point lead. Spain's Adriana Castro Nuñez is in third, while yesterday's leader, Hermionie Ghicas of Greece, fell to fourth after finishing 8th and 10th in her races.
In the men's ILCA 6, Italy's Antonio Pascali was the most consistent, taking the top spot. Belgium's Anders Bultynck found his form again, winning the last race of the day and finishing in second overall.
The young Nacra 15 team from France of Côme Vic-Molinero and Fatima Tia are tied on nine points with Lorenzo Sirena and Alice Dessy (ITA) after six races, following a strong performance on Day 2. Three solid races allowed them to close in on the host nation's lead. Elohim Bouregba-Vitrac and Mehiti Bax De Keating earned Tahiti's first win of the Championships in the second race, finishing the day with 29 points.
Watch Day 3’s racing live and view results here!