SAILING Preview: 22 Olympic and World medalists at third World Cup underway in Genoa

Brazil's Olympic 49er FX champs Grael and Kunze

The famed port city of Genoa in northwest Italy is the site for the third World Sailing World Cup event of the 2018-19, including eight Olympic classes (no windsurfing), running through Sunday. The medal races will come on the weekend:

20 April: 49er, 49er FX, Nacra 17
21 April: Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, 470

The fields are quite large in many of the classes, with a total of 437 entries. Among the 700-plus sailors are 22 medalists from the 2016 Olympic Games or 2018 World Championships:

Men

Laser (111 entries):
● Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
● Pavlos Kontides (CYP) ~ 2018 World Champion

Finn (20):
● None

470 (44):
● Matthew Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS) ~ 2016 Olympic silver
● Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze
● Kevin Peponnet/Jeremie Mion (FRA) ~ 2018 World Champion
● Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze

49er (65):
● Peter Burling/Blair Tuke (NZL) ~ 2016 Olympic Champions
● Sime Fantela/Mihovil Fantela (CRO) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Mathieu Frei/Noe Delpech (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver
● Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (GER) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze

Women

Laser Radial (67):
● Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze; 2018 Worlds bronze

470 (35):
● Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz (FRA) ~ Lecointre: 2016 Olympic bronze
● Ai Kondo Yoshida/Miho Yoshioka (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Silvia Mas Depares/Patricia Cantero Reina (ESP) ~ 2018 Worlds silver

49er FX (50):
● Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (BRA) ~ 2016 Olympic Champions
● Alex Maloney/Molly Meech (NZL) ~ 2016 Olympic silvers
● Annemiek Bekkering/Annette Duetz (NED) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Tanja Frank/Lorena Albicht (AUT) ~ 2018 Worlds silvers
● Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) ~ 2018 Worlds bronzes

Mixed

Nacra 17 (45):
● Santiago Lange/Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) ~ 2016 Olympic gold; 2018 Worlds bronzes
● Thomas Zajac/Barbara Matz (AUT) ~ Zajac: 2016 Olympic bronze
● Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champions

Look for results here. The World Cup series will conclude in June with the World Cup Final in Marseille (FRA).