CAGLIARI, ITALY-(13-7-2004) The 2004 Europe Class World Championship kicked off yesterday in Italy. 104 sailors from 29 nations are competing in the women’s event, the last major championship for the class before the Olympic Games in August.
The fleet is divided into two groups and both completed two races yesterday. Four different sailors have a bullet to their name so far and they are Petra NIEMANN (GER), Tatiana DROZDOVSKAYA (BLR), Sarah BLANCK (AUS) and Sophie DE TURKHEIM (FRA). All except the latter will be representing their nations in Athens.
Niemann followed up her bullet in race one with a third in race two to top the leaderboard after day one on four points. Behind her three sailors are tied on eight points; Tatiana DROZDOVSKAYA (BLR), Sari MULTALA (FIN) and Sophie DE TURKHEIM (FRA).
Current world champion and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2003 Siren SUNDBY (NOR) has not made a good start in the defence of her title. An eighth and a fifth puts her down in ninth place overall after day one.
There are also 73 men competing for the men’s title and the fleet also completed two races yesterday. Christopher GUNDERSEN (NOR) and Oscar CLAESON (SWE) both took a first and a second yesterday and top the leaderboard with three points each.
Racing for both fleets continues today and continues until Saturday 17 July when the new champions will be crowned.
Top Ten After Two Races – Women
Pos Nation Name R1 R2 Points
1 GER NIEMANN Petra 1 3 4
2 BLR DROZDOVSKAYA Tatiana 1 7 8
3 FIN MULTALA Sari 3 5 8
4 FRA DE TURCKHEIM Sophie 7 1 8
5 IRL COLEMAN Maria 6 4 10
6 POL GLINKIEWICZ Weronika 2 9 11
7 DEN LIVBJERG Signe 9 2 11
8 CZE SMIDOVA Lenka 4 9 13
9 NOR SUNDBY Siren 8 5 13
10 DEN DITTE Juul 12 3 15
Top Ten After Two Races - Men
Pos Nation Name R1 R2 Points
1 NOR GUNDERSEN Christopher 3 2 1
2 SWE CLAESON Oscar 3 1 2
3 FRA BAIZEZ Brice 6 2 4
4 DEN RISOR Michael 9 6 3
5 ESP MARIN Gerard 9 3 6
6 SWE OSTLING Sebastian 10 9 1
7 SWE VASTERNAS Victor 10 8 2
8 SWE CLAESON Arvid 10 6 4
9 FRA DERAND Mathieu 10 5 5
10 SWE ORN Lucas 12 3 9
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