Giles Scott secured his third European Finn title in Athens today after holding off world champion Zsombor Berecz, from Hungary, on the final day of the Finn Open European Championship. Andy Maloney, from New Zealand, took second overall, while Berecz took third and European Silver. Fifth placed Nicholas Heiner, from the Netherlands, took the European bronze medal while Joan Cardona, from Spain, won the U23 European title.

It was the day of reckoning in Athens, with two European titles to decide and two places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Despite the forecasts of wind in the morning, the sun beat down on a calm Saronic Gulf for most of the day. The cut-off for the warning signal for the Final Race was 15.00 and at 14.30, with signs of wind further offshore, the race team moved position and set a course with a start at 14.55.

Inevitably this was a general recall, which was quickly turned around with a new warning signal at 14.57, with just three minutes left. This start got away cleanly, with a left shift soon after the start.

After losing his Olympic trials on Friday, Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, wanted to go out on a high, in his last race in the class, and, judging the port layline perfectly rounded in first and led all the way to claim the race victory, a fitting end to 14 years campaigning the Finn. It was a beautiful and poignant moment when he crossed the line, way ahead of the fleet, a supreme talent in the Finn class and one of the most popular sailors in the fleet.

Behind him the battle for the two places in Tokyo was heating up. Johanes Pettersson, from Sweden sailed a great race to cross in second, while 2016 Rio bronze medalist, Caleb Paine, crossed in third to secure a place for the USA in Tokyo.

Nils Theuninck crossed in ninth thinking he had secured a place for Switzerland in Tokyo but the elation turned to heartbreak when he was later disqualified after a mark rounding incident at the first windward mark. This meant that Ioannis Mitakis, who finished just behind in 12th, took the fourth place available here in Tokyo, for Greece.

So USA and Greece join Brazil and Norway as the four nations that qualified for Tokyo 2020 decided this week. Six more places are available from the continental qualifiers starting with the World Cup in Enoshima in August.

Paine said, “It was a challenging day with the points really close. We had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Fortunately I started in a good spot and it shifted in my direction.”

On the regatta, “I struggled on the first beats in this event. I couldn’t really catch a break but across the rest of the course definitely had good speed. Improving on that first best strategy is definitely something to work on.”

Now USA has qualified for Tokyo, “It’s nice to finally get the ball rolling in the right direction.”

For Mitakis, the relief at qualifying came after the jury decisions on Theuninck.

“I am really happy qualifying Greece, It was a big goal and nice to happen now so I have plenty of time to prepare myself, or whoever will go, as we have not had the national trials yet.”

“I am proud to qualify my country in Greece. It was hard because the wind was not what we expected and not what we are used to and also there was a bit more pressure for everyone as everyone wanted to qualify in Greece.”

The medal race started soon after with the possibility of a match race among the front-runners. Maloney escaped to the right soon after the start, which left Scott locked in combat with Berecz. Scott slowed him and inflicted some match racing moves and a penalty to drag them both to the back of the fleet. Berecz had to beat Scott by eight places to take the title, but the title was as good as Scott’s from the first mark as they rounded some way behind the fleet.

At the front, Maloney took advantage of this and was soon in the lead to take the race win from Facundo Olezza, from Argentina and Alican Kaynar, from Turkey. Kaynar made a great move at the end to move into third, but it wasn’t enough to take the Europeans bronze away from Heiner.

Scott said, “It wasn’t really the plan, but the medal race entailed me and Zsombor going at it a little bit, in a bit of match race which was good fun. Fortunately I managed to get the better of him after the first cross.”

“Zsombor was the only guy that could beat me, so I felt I had to go and be aggressive. It’s never nice sailing someone out of a position they had fought hard to be in but you have to work hard to protect your own position.”

But still friends afterwards. “Absolutely. The fleet is great like that. I like to think we are all good sportsmen and respect each other well, and I’ve also got a lot of respect for the week that Zsombor and Andy have put together. They are very deserving of the medals they got.”

On winning his third European title “It’s a great place to be. Winning a third title is amazing, but ultimately it’s all about what is happening in 18 months time. Every event and every training is trying to build towards that, so this is one little step along that journey to Tokyo.”

“It’s great to come here and great to win but always a lot of work to do.”

In the U23 European Championship, Joan Cardona took the title after sailing an excellent week and finished as top Spanish sailor, and just two places short of securing a Tokyo place. Second place went to Henry Wetherell, from Britain with Theuninck dropping to third.

It has been a fantastic European Championship in Athens, with great hospitality from everyone. Many of the sailors had been here training through the winter and in the weeks before the championship. The welcome from the Hellenic Sailing Federation and the local people has been amazing, and the sailing base at the Athens International Sailing Center is a perfect location for running a major regatta. It surely has a great future as a major regatta venue.

You can watch all the live converge again and follow the tracking through YouTube and SailRacer. All the links are on the event website 2019.finneuropeans.org.

Final results (medal race in brackets)

1   GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 48 (10)

2 NZL 61 Andy MALONEY 52 (1)

3   HUN 40 Zsombor BERECZ 61 (9)

4   ARG 48 Facundo OLEZZA 84 (2)

5   NED 89 Nicholas HEINER 97 (8)

6   TUR 21 Alican KAYNAR 98 (3)

7   BRA 109 Jorge ZARIF 111 (4)

8   NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 111 (6)

9   NOR 1 Anders PEDERSEN 112 (5)

10   GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 114 (7)

Full results here: http://www.eio.gr/athens-international-sailing-center/item/5042-finn-2019-european-championship-results

Norway and Brazil secured their places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as the penultimate day of the Finn Europeans in Athens was abandoned late on Friday, with no more races sailed due to very light wind all day. Olympic champion Giles Scott, from Britain, will go into the medal race with a 15-point lead over world champion Zsombor Berecz, from Hungary, in second. America’s Cup winner, Andy Maloney, from New Zealand, cannot win gold but can take the silver. The medals can only go to these three champions.

Behind them, the battle for the remaining two Olympic places is intense with seven countries in the next nine places hoping to qualify, and with 35 points between them. At the moment, the two spots are occupied by Switzerland and USA, in 11th and 12th, but the points are really close in the chasing group, so everyone will have to be at the top of their game. It is two down and two to go.

The fleet of 84 Finns from 33 nations had a long day of waiting on shore followed by a brief excursion onto the water, only to be turned around as storm cell appeared from Athens. After a further wait onshore racing was abandoned for the day around 18.30.

Anders Pedersen, from Norway, sailed his first Olympics in Rio, and today qualified his country for Tokyo.

“It was a long day of waiting. It’s a huge relief, and takes some weight of my shoulders. I didn’t have a very successful Aarhus event, and made some stupid mistakes in the end and was just out of the qualification, so to manage to do it here was a good feeling as there are really a lot of good nations who haven’t qualified, so for sure it was good to be on top.”

“The range [in the fleet] is really wide. There are a lot of nations with really good sailors and unfortunately we are going to see a lot of them missing out on the opportunity to sail in the Olympics.”

“It’s a been rough week. We had a bit of everything. It’s been racing with 90 boats again it’s always a challenge to get of the starting line and find your own track and keep free and have a good race but I managed it I most of the races. I made some mistakes as well, which was not so good but in the end, luckily I managed top ten.”

Jorge Zarif, from Brazil, will go to his third Olympics in a row if he can also satisfy his national criteria.

“I think I still have to finish top 15 or top 18 at the worlds in Melbourne to qualify or in the next worlds. Before we used to have trials in Brazil until 2016, but now it’s the federation that selects who goes. So I am in a good spot to go to the Games and I am sure it will happen.”

“It feels good. I would have liked to race. I think it’s not that nice to qualify in this way, but I am happy that I made it. I will just focus on the Finn now. No TP52. No Star and try and improve until the Games. It’s short time to the Games, only a year and three months, and there are still a lot of things where everyone can improve their game.”

On the week “It was pretty hard regatta. It was different from the days we had before the regatta, when we had a really good sea breeze. I had a terrible start over the first two days and then I had a good day yesterday, so happy I made the medal race. It wasn’t the best of my regattas, but the target was to qualify the country, so it’s OK.”

Another sailor celebrating is Nicholas Heiner, who has won the Dutch selection for Tokyo after overcoming triple Olympian, Pieter-Jan Postma.

“Happy days. The racing has been pretty tricky with only three days sailed out of the five. That said we don’t have the weather under our control, but the racing we have had has been really close.”

He is too far adrift to take a medal. “It’s a decent result, but not where I wanted to be. I wanted to b a bit closer to the leaders, but it is what it is.”

“With the system we have you only get points in the top 10. Last time (in the Laser] into Rio, I became world champion during the trials and I ended up not going to the Games. We had the same system this time round. PJ is a great competitor; he has been on the podium many times. Basically all we could do is our best and focus on the progress and the results would come from that. I think we have shown really consistent results and that brings a lot of confidence. But I still needed to finish it off here.”

He was runner up at the Europeans last year. “Great to have Olympic selection, but would have been nice to have been higher on the podium here.”

He says it’s nice to qualify this early. “You never know what happens in two years times and now it’s a year before the Games and a lot can happen. You can really focus on the process leading into the Olympic Games.”

On Saturday the focus will not only be on the final two spaces, but of course on the Europeans titles. Scot has a 15 points lead over Berecz, who has a seven point lead over Maloney. Gold will go to Scott or Berecz, while Berecz and Maloney will fight for the silver. Only these three can win the medals.

For the U233 European title, the defending champion, Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland is 36 points ahead of Joan Cardona, of Spain. Oskari Muhinen, from Finland, is a further 26 points back.

Scott said, “Good position to be in but still a bit of work to do tomorrow.”

On his form this week, “I have been pretty pleased with the way I have sailed. In the most part I was pleased with the way I sailed I Palma as well. Andy [Maloney] put together an amazing week as well, so I am happy with where I am at and back into Finn sailing now which is good and hopefully a little a bit of rust that I may have developed is beginning to be shaken off.”

On focusing on the Finn campaign, “It’s still very much a balancing act with the various campaigns. Everything on the America’s Cup side will begin to ramp up over the next 18 months, as obviously will the Olympic side, so it will take a bit of time management, but I am sure its all doable.”

On the medal race, “Zomby has 15 points to take out of me, do I’ll have to keep an eye on him in the medal race and see how it plays out.”

On Saturday the Final Race has been scheduled for 11.00, followed immediately by the medal race. The forecast would seem to indicate good wind at that time. Live tracking is available through YouTube and SailRacer on the event website 2019.finneuropeans.org.

Results after 8 races

1 GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 28

2 HUN 40 Zsombor BERECZ 43

3 NZL 61 Andy MALONEY 50

4 ARG 48 Facundo OLEZZA 80

5 NED 89 Nicholas HEINER 81

6 TUR 21 Alican KAYNAR 92

7 NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 99

8 GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 100

9 NOR 1 Anders PEDERSEN 102

10 BRA 109 Jorge ZARIF 103

Full results here: http://www.eio.gr/athens-international-sailing-center/item/5042-finn-2019-european-championship-results

ANNOUNEMENT No 11

THE PRIZE GIVING AND THE CLOSING CEREMOΝΥ WILL BE ORGANISED IN FRONT OF THE GROUNDS OF THE FEDERATION OFFICES

ON SATURDAY, MAY 18^TH AT 20.30

THE CEREMONΥ WILL BE FOLLOWED BY AN IMPRESSIVE BUFFET AT THE RESTING AREA (TENT) AS WELL AS A SAILORS PARTY WITH A WELL KNOWN DJ.

                                   17/05/2019

                            The Organizing Committee

The Finn Europeans in Athens got back on track on Thursday with three more races completed. After losing the overall lead following the opening race, Brit, Giles Scott ended the day with a 15-point lead over Hungarian world champion Zsombor Berecz. Andy Maloney, from New Zealand drops one place to third, despite winning the opening race. The other race wins went to Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland and Josip Olujic, from Croatia.

The battle to win the four places in Tokyo took a new turn today with only Norway still among the top four nations from yesterday that haven’t already qualified. A great day from Jorge Zarif moves him up to 10th and second nation, just one point behind Anders Pedersen from Norway, while a fantastic performance from Nils Theuninck puts Switzerland in third, with USA fourth.

With three races scheduled it was with a feeling of déjà vue that the fleet was held on shore again with too little wind on the race course. As the wind increased and the fleet was released they managed three races in a range of conditions. The first race started in 7-9 knots. Oscar was raised at the top mark and the wind continued to increase to 12-14 knots over the afternoon before dropping in the middle of the final race to around 5 knots.

James Skulczuk, from Britain, was fastest to the top mark in Race 6, leading round from Arkadiy Kistanov from Russia and Theuninck. Kistanov took the lead downwind and held it until the second top mark, when Maloney came through to lead into the finish. Kisanov took second and Zarif recovered to take third. Regatta leader, Scott, recovered from the second half of the fleet at the top mark, to cross in 14th, and briefly lost the overall lead to Maloney.

Race 7 started in great conditions, with 12-14 knots, nice waves and brilliant blue skies. After placing fourth in the first race, Theuninck rounded the top mark in the lead and flew downwind to open up a huge gap on the fleet. He never looked threatened, while the pack behind him including Luwen Shen, from China, Ed Wright from Britain, Zarif and Scott were chasing hard. Zarif eventually crossed second with Scott third.

The wind was clearly dropping as the fleet started Race 8, and the course was reduced in size at each mark. Wright was the early leader from Joan Cardona, of Spain, and Max Salminen, from Sweden. The second beat was crucial with lots of pressure changes in the dying breeze causing many place changes. Berecz emerged ahead to lead downwind, but Olujic got the final advantage to lead the fleet across the line from Berecz and Scott.

Zarif said, “I had two pretty good races with a second and a third. The last one was pretty bad when the wind completely died. It’s not an excuse, as I made my discard, but I had a good day, because in a championship like this the scores are super high and if you can make top 12 average you are in a good position to make the medal race.”

“I think I sailed really bad the first two days, but I was still just six points behind fourth place. Everyone has had at least one terrible race, so there is still a lot to play for tomorrow and let’s see if I can make it.”

It has been an up and down week for Cardona, and he is now struggling to be the one to qualify Spain for Tokyo 2020.

“It was not a very good day for me. Yesterday I got a black flag so today it was like I couldn’t discard any bad race. I had a 40th so not the best result and I dropped a bit in the overall, but everything is still open and hoping for better results tomorrow.”

“The conditions were good except the last race when the wind dropped a lot. But conditions were nice and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s my first Olympic qualifier so I am just learning lots of things and trying to improve a bit every day.”

The star performance of the day was undoubtedly Theuninck. The defending U23 European Champion is now leading the U23 championship from Cardona and Finland’s Oskari Muhonen.

“It was really tiring, because the first two races were hard on the upwinds and hard on the downwinds, and long races, so I am really tired right now but also really happy with the day as well.”

“The first two went really well with a fourth and a first and then the last about 13th so it was quite a consistent day.”

“This regatta is the most important of the year. I managed to get back in the game after a not so good first two days. I guess tomorrow, I will try and do the same and see where I end up. It’s been a pretty good year with fifth in Miami and 12th in Palma. So some good results. This regatta didn’t go so well until today, so I am happy that my results are improving.”

“In the last race the wind was dying and I came around the top mark in the top 20 and the it was free pumping, even though conditions were really light, so I just pumped as hard as I could to catch up the front pack. And I managed to gain some places. I missed a few opportunities to get some more but it was a bit intense, a bit stressful and nerve wracking, but it was OK.”

There will be plenty more stress to come with a maximum of three races left to sail. The points are generally high and also quite close, so there is still everything to play for. The top three overall are starting to show signs of pulling away, with a 30-point gap on the fleet, but the medal race split and the Tokyo 2020 qualification is still incredibly tight,

There are two more races in the opening series scheduled on Friday, before the medal race and the final race for the rest on Saturday.

Racing is scheduled to start at 13.30, with live tracking available through YouTube and SailRacer on the event website 2019.finneuropeans.org.

Results after 8 races

1 GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 28
2 HUN 40 Zsombor BERECZ 43
3 NZL 61 Andy MALONEY 50
4 ARG 48 Facundo OLEZZA 80
5 NED 89 Nicholas HEINER 81
6 TUR 21 Alican KAYNAR 92
7 NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 99
8 GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 100
9 NOR 1 Anders PEDERSEN 102
10 BRA 109 Jorge ZARIF 103

Full results here: http://www.eio.gr/athens-international-sailing-center/item/5042-finn-2019-european-championship-results