SAILING: Three clear Olympic favorites after wins in test event and World Cup I in Enoshima

Belgium's Emma Plaeschaert, winner of the Ready Steady Tokyo and World Cup Laser class

A unique opportunity for sailors was arranged by the Tokyo 2020 organizers and the folks at World Sailing, creating a back-to-back program of the Ready Steady Tokyo test event and then the first World Cup of the 2019-2020 season at the Olympic venue at Enoshima Bay in Japan.

Many countries took advantage of the possibilities, with only three winners of the same event in both weeks:

Men/470: Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL)
Women/RS:X: Yunxiu Lu (CHN)
Women/Laser Radial: Emma Plaeschaert (BEL)

Pretty impressive! In addition, Nicholas Heiner (NED: Finn) moved up from silver at the test event to win at the World Cup.

Only France managed to win two events at the World Cup, with Louis Giard taking the men’s RS:X and Quentin Delapierre and Manon Audinet (FRA) winning the mixed-crew Nacra 17 class. The only reigning World Champions to win at the World Cup were Pavlos Kontides (CYP: men’s Laser) and Plaeschaert in the women’s Laser Radial. Summaries:

World Sailing World Cup I
Enoshima (JPN) ~ 26 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

RS:X: 1. Louis Giard (FRA), 48.0 net points; 2. Kun Bi (CHN), 49.0; 3. Pierre Le Coq (FRA), 53.0.

Laser: 1. Pavlos Kontides (CYP), 36.0; 2. Matt Wearn (AUS), 57.0; 3. Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA), 62.0.

470: 1. Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL), 27.0; 2. Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP), 37.0; 3. Kazuto Doi/Naoya Kimura (JPN), 47.0.

Finn: 1. Nicholas Heiner (NED), 19.0; 2. Josip Olujic (CRO), 44.0; 3. Ioannis Mitakis (GRE), 47.0. Also in the top 10: 10. Luke Miller (USA), 82.0.

49er: 1. James Peters/Fynn Sterritt (GBR), 49.0; 2. Benjamin Bildstein/David Hussl (AUT), 49.0; 3. Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (GER), 52.0. Also in the top 10: 8. Andrew Mollerus/Ian Macdiarmid (USA), 66.0.

Women

RS:X: 1. Yunxiu Lu (CHN), 37.0; 2. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 42.0; 3. Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (POL), 49.0.

Laser Radial: 1. Emma Plaeschaert (BEL), 54.0; 2. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), 57.0; 3. Alison Young (GBR), 64.0.

470: 1. Silvia Mas Depares/Patricia Cantero Reina (ESP), 44.0; 2. Nia Jerwood/Monique de Vries (AUS), 45.0; 3. Frederike Loewe/Anna Markfort (GER), 58.0. Also in the top 10: 10. Atlantic Brugman Cabot/Nora Brugman (USA), 104.0.

49erFX: 1. Annemiek Bekkering/Annette Duetz (NED), 27.0; 2. Alexandra Maloney/Molly Meech (NZL), 36.0; 3. Julie Bossard/Aude Compan (FRA), 37.0.

Mixed

Nacra 17: 1. Quentin Delapierre/Manon Audinet (FRA), 21.0; 2. Ben Saxton/Nicola Boniface (GBR), 22.0; 3. Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (ITA), 23.0.