Domonkos Nemeth of Hungary took it right to the wire but claimed both the 2023 Open and U23 Finn Europeans in Csopak, Hungary on Thursday.
In doing so, he becomes the first sailor ever to win both the senior and U23 titles in the same year, the first Hungarian to win the Finn Junior European title and only the second Hungarian to win the Senior title, after Zsombor Berecz won in 2020 and 2021.
Berecz of course is the manager of the host club this year, Procelero SE.
Laurent Hay, from France, took the silver medal while Alessandro Marega, from Italy won the bronze medal after two races on Thursday in light and shifty northerlies and again quite cold and grey conditions.
Britain’s Lawrence Crispin finished in eighth overall.
In the U23, Nemeth was dominant, while there was a great fight for the other medals between the three Hungarians, Ábel Szűcs, Bence Rácz and Attila Svastits.
In the end, Svastits, in 22nd overall, took the silver just 1 point ahead of Szűcs who took the bronze. Six U23 sailors took part this year.
This has been a tough championship by any measure. While many competitors expected light, warm conditions, only two days were sailed below 10 knots. It has been a physical and mental challenge of endurance in some very testing conditions.
Unusually as well, all ten races were sailed. The 70 sailors from 21 nations might leave Csopak exhausted, but all had an unforgettable experience here.
Around 30 to 40 of them now head straight to Nea Iraklitsa near Kavala, in Greece for the Finn World Masters, starting next week, and hopefully some better weather.
Finn Europeans – Final results after 10 races
1 HUN 80 Domonkos NÉMETH 18 pts
2 FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ 22 pts
3 ITA 983 Alessando MAREGA 42 pts
4 HUN 911 Elemér Péter HAIDEKKER 49 pts
5 POR 21 Filipe SILVA 67 pts
6 RSA 1 Ian AINSLIE 74 pts
7 POL 6 Bartosz SZYDLOWSKI 85 pts
8 GBR 74 Lawrence CRISPIN 98 pts
9 FRA 99 Marc ALLAIN DES BEAUVAIS 100 pts
10 HUN 5 Tibor PALLAY 111 pts
