470 World Championship – British teams start well in Mallorca

Sixty-one 470 teams are competing in the 470 World Championship in Palma, Mallorca.

After the first day of racing Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki, and Ai and Yugo Yoshida both of Japan, top the leaderboard with 3 pts after three races, after a discard.

In third place are Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort of Germany tied on 4 pts with Jordi Xxammer and Nora Brugman of Spain, and defending champions Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka of Japan on 4 pts.

Best placed British pair are Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris (4, 3, -10) in 10th overall with 7 pts. They are closely tracked by Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube (2, 7, -13) in 11th with 9pts.

Both GBR teams started well but dipped in double figures in race 3, although that result is removed at present by the first discard.

The importance of their positions is down to Team GB not yet having gained qualification in the ‘mixed dinghy’ (470) event for Paris 2024.

There is just one qualification place available for a European team at this event. After day 1 the top two GBR teams are in the qualification position, there closest rivals are the Italian teams in 16 and 17th places, but there is a lot of racing to do.

The reality for Britsh teams is that gaining qualification the the Games is a higher priority than the world title . . . although no one will turn down doing the double!

There are also qualification places available for teams from Africa, South and North America.

There is another day of Qualifying Races and then three days of Gold/Silver Fleet racing, then the top 10 teams will race each other in the concluding Medal Race on the sixth and final day of competition, Sunday 3 March.

470 World Championship – Leaders after 3 races, 1 discard (61 entries)

1st JPN 22 Tetsuya ISOZAKI and Yurie SEKI -21 2 1 – – 3 pts
2nd JPN 55 Ai YOSHIDA and Yugo YOSHIDA 1 -21 2 – – 3 pts
3rd GER 11 Simon DIESCH and Anna MARKFORT 3 1 -5 – – 4 pts
4th ESP 44 Jordi XAMMAR and Nora BRUGMAN 3 1 -7 – – 4 pts
5th JPN 8 Keiju OKADA and Miho YOSHIOKA 2 2 -8 – – 4 pts
6th FRA 72 Matisse PACAUD and Lucie DE GENNES -24 4 1 – – 5 pts
7th FRA 1 Camille LECOINTRE and Jeremie MION 1 4 -12 – – 5 pts
8th USA 1842 Stuart MCNAY and Lara DALLMAN-WEISS -17 5 2 – – 7 pts
9th AUT 1 Lara VADLAU and Lukas MAEHR 4 -12 3 – – 7 pts
10th GBR 55 Martin WRIGLEY and Bettine HARRIS 4 3 -10 – – 7 pts
11th GBR 4 Vita HEATHCOTE and Chris GRUBE 2 7 -13 – – 9 pts
12th SUI 3 Yves MERMOD and Maja SIEGENTHALER -18 5 4 – – 9 pts
13th POR 25 Beatriz GAGO and Rodolfo PIRES 9 -15 3 – – 12 pts
14th CHN 311 Zangjun XU and Yixiao LYU 6 6 BFD – – 12 pts
15th CHN 373 Jianyong XU and Yani XU -23 9 4 – – 13 pts
16th ITA 3 Giacomo FERRARI and Alessandra DUBBINI -10 7 6 – – 13 pts
17th ITA 6 Elena BERTA and Bruno FESTO 9 -10 5 – – 14 pts
18th GRE 7 Ariadne SPANAKI and Odysseas SPANAKIS 5 -22 9 – – 14 pts
19th ISR 15 Nitai HASSON and Noa LASRY 8 -10 7 – – 15 pts
20th JPN 46 Daichi TAKAYAMA and Fuyuka MORITA 7 -13 8 – – 15 pts
Other GBR:
35th GBR 9 Hannah BRISTOW andJames TAYLOR 15 13 -18 – – 28 pts
37th GBR 11 Charlie LEIGH and Ryan ORR 6 -24 23 – – 29 pts
41st GBR 895 Haydn SEWELL and Faye CHATTERTON 16 16 -21 – – 32 pts