This Saturday, Portuguese sailors Pedro and Diogo Costa became world runners-up in the 470 class, in Vilamoura, after last Friday, have secured their presence in Tokyo 2020. Sweden is world champion in men's and Spain in women's.
The Portuguese duo finished the Medal Race in 8th place, but it was enough to secure the silver medal in the World Championship that ended this Saturday in Vilamoura.
"Amazing. We had already won the World Championship in 420 but this is different. It's been a dream since childhood, it's history for us, for Portugal, for the Federation», stated Diogo Costa.
Pedro Costa highlights the work developed by a vast team that culminated in this result that he classified as «very difficult and an authentic overcoming».
Tokyo 2020 could be the last major competition together, as the 470 class will essentially compete with mixed teams.
«It's the closing of a cycle, of a great stage, we've been together for 9 years, honestly I don't know what the future holds, now we're going deep to Tokyo, later it will be seen», defended Diogo.
“Maybe we can continue to work together, we know that we will never be adversaries. We will continue to work as a team even in separate boats», completed Pedro Costa.
Swedes Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström, now world champions, managed to recover after a less happy match, finishing in 3rd place and making the party in the end.
«It was very stressful, with the offshore wind (blowing from land) very treacherous, a lot happening on the regatta field. At first it looked like we weren't doing well, but we kept trying and managed to finish first,” said Fredrik Bergström.
Anton Dahlberg was “relieved and purely happy” in what he called “an incredible week and a very difficult Medal Race”.
In a disputed race marked by unstable wind, the Spaniards Jordi Xammar and Nicolas Rodriguez managed to keep 3rd place in the final table and closed the podium.
In the women's competition, the Spanish Silvia Mas Depares and Patricia Cantero Reina became world champions after leading the table for more than half of the competition.
«It was a very tense week, with many emotions every day. We were seeing that getting to medals was complicated. They canceled the first start, we kept trying, it was complicated and the English penalty was incredible», revealed Silvia on arrival.
The silver medal was won by the Dutch Aphrodite Zegers and Lobke Berkhout and the Italians Elena Berta and Bianca Caruso took home the bronze medal.
In the mixed competition Israel dominated the podium with Gil Cohen and Noam Homri becoming the first world champions of this level and compatriots Tal Sade and Noa Lasry runners-up. Britons Amy Seabright and James Taylor won the bronze medal.
Two Olympic places were at stake in this competition, the men's assigned to Portugal and the women's to Turkey.
In the European Championship of RS:X class, Olympic windsurfing modality, the Dutchman Kiran Badloe renewed the title of European champion, adding it to the world championship and Italian Mattia Camboni secured the silver medal. The bronze one was in the hands of the Israeli Ofek Elimelech.
In the women's competition the French Charline Picon renewed in Vilamoura the title of European champion and the Dutch Lilian De Geus was runner-up. Polish Zofia Noceti Klepacka took 3rd place on the podium.
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