The Medal Races concluded the inaugural
ISAF Worldcup Final in Abu Dhabi, Arabian Gulf, yesterday. The participants were enthusiastic, not only because of the summery conditions with perfect winds, but also because of the prize money available for the first three in each event, i.e. US$ 10'000/6'500/3'500 for the podium. Olympic sailing is going professional !
The
Medal Races had only a minor influence on the rankings. The winner in the 470 men were once more
Matthew Belcher/Will Ryan AUS ahead of Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE and
Stuart McNay/David Hughes USA. Impressive the Austrians
Schmid/Reichstädter AUT in this last race and as 4th overall, they missed the podium by 2 points only. Bargher/Mähr AUT won the Medal Race and finished 5th. Lara Vadlau/Jolanta Ogar AUT remained on top of the 470 women followed by Sophie Weguelin/Eilidh McIntyre GBR, winners of the Medal Race, and Ai Kondo/Miho Yoshioka JPN. Januszewski/Nowak POL celebrated their first win in an important event in the 49ers ahead of Paz/Paz ESP and Pink/Bithell GBR. Dominant winners in the 49ersFX were Alexandra Maloney/Molly Meech NZL with Ericson/Klinga SWE and Conti/Clapcich ITA on the positions 2 and 3. First ranked in the Finns was Vasilij Zbogar SLO closely followed by Ivan Klijakovic CRO and Caleb Paine USA. No surprise is the triple French podium in the Nacra 17 with Billy Besson/Marie Riou FRA Gold, Audrey Ogereau/Matthieu Vandame FRA Silver and Moana Vaireaux/Manon Audinet FRA Bronze. In the RS:X male windsurfers, the youngster Louis Giard FRA defended his lead against the Olympic medalists Byron Kokkalanis GRE and Nick Dempsey GBR. Byrony Shaw GBR dominated the RS:X female windsurfers ahead of Charline Picon FRA and Blanca Manchon ESP. In the Kiteboarders, the young Oliver Bridge GBR won the Final in front of Maxime Nocher FRA and Florian Gruber GER.
