Poles lead in sailing World Cup in Mallorca

Paweł Tarnowski in the windsurfing iQFoil class and a crew in the 49er class are leading the overall classification of the Princess Sophia Cup regatta. The regatta takes place in Mallorca, is of World Cup rank and is one of the most important form tests for sailors before the upcoming Olympic Games. The medallists will be announced on Saturday, 6 April.

This year’s 54th edition of the Princess Sophia Cup has attracted more than 1,100 sailors from 75 countries to the start line. The competition took place in 10 Olympic classes, with Poles competing in seven of them. The regatta started with almost stormy winds, the next two days had dreamlike sailing weather and today a light breeze effectively torpedoed the possibility of racing in some classes.

Regardless of the conditions, Polish sailors are playing leading or significant roles in some classes. In the windsurfing iQFoil class, a beautiful duel is being fought by Paweł Tarnowski (Sopocki Klub Żeglarski) and Italian Nicolo Renna, i.e. the competitors who won the titles of vice-champion and world champion respectively two months ago. So far, in the correspondence duel (the 107 competitors are divided into two fleets), the Pole is the winner, who has won as many as six of the eight races played and leads in the general classification. Renna, with four race wins, is five points behind Tarnowski.

In the 49er class, Łukasz Przybytek and Jacek Piasecki (AZS AWFiS Gdańsk) are doing great. The Poles finished as many as six of ten races in the top three, won two of them and are leading in the general classification. Right behind them, with the same number of points, are Diego Botin le Chever and Florian Trittel Paul. The Spaniards are a very successful crew – they have won bronze twice and silver once in the last three world championships, they are also the 2022 European champions and finished fourth at the Tokyo Games.

It’s quite tight behind the leaders in the 49er class, the points gap is small, so anything can still happen. It is important that two other Polish crews are in the game for promotion to the top 10, which will gain the right to start in the double medal race. 10th place is occupied by the current European vice-champions, Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki (AZS AWFiS Gdańsk / AZS Poznań), and in 13th place are Mikołaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch (AZS AWFiS Gdańsk / PGE Sailing Team Poland), the fifth crew of the recent world championships.

Wiktoria Gołębiowska (UKŻ Wiking Toruń / PGE Sailing Team Poland) is also heroically fighting for a place in the top ten of the ILCA 6 class. After a mediocre start to the regatta, the Pole has been performing excellently in the second part of the race, and the race won in great style has given her confidence in her own abilities. Currently Wiktoria is in 10th place in the general classification. 27th place is held by Agata Barwińska (SSW MOS Iława / PGE Sailing Team Poland).

In the women’s iQFoil class, Maja Dziarnowska (Sopocki Klub Żeglarski) dropped out of the top 10 after the last races. However, her loss is small and the Pole will fight tomorrow to qualify for Saturday’s medal races.

In the other classes (ILCA 7, 470, 49erFX), the Poles are ranked outside the top. The World Cup regatta in Mallorca will end on 6 April.

Photos: Author: Sailing Energy / Princesa Sofa

Source: PortalMorski.pl