Spain and the Netherlands ensured their presence in Tokyo in the ILCA 7 sailing class, being the best of the 17 countries seeking to occupy the two places available in the European Continent Olympic Qualification that ended this Saturday, April 24, in Vilamoura.
It was a last day of exciting competitions, either in the search for the first place in the competition or in the fight for the Olympic places, with the wind and sea conditions forcing the athletes to exert greater physical effort and technical mastery.
After 12 races, the Spanish sailor Joel Rodriguez Perez reached the 9th place overall, but he always led the fight for the Olympic places and guaranteed a place for his country.
“We knew it was going to be a close fight. I had a bad day, but the week was better, enough to guarantee today the objective of taking Spain to the Olympic Games», said the Spanish sailor.
The second available spot was the subject of fierce competition between the Belgians and the Dutch, with Duko Bos taking the lead and securing the Netherlands' presence in Tokyo. However, it will not be the Dutch sailor to compete in the Olympics.
“It was a difficult day, I started well, I was happy with the 1st race but the 2nd race didn't go as planned. I tried to recover and it was enough to qualify the country, but not for me to be selected, which provokes mixed feelings», confessed the athlete.
In a competition in which some of the countries with a guaranteed presence at the Olympic Games decided who would represent them in Tokyo, the last day of competitions dictated the victory of German Philipp Buhl after a rise in places in recent days.
“Today was exhausting, but I did well with 2nd and 1st places. It was really hard but at the same time fun. In the last race I gave my best, in fact like everyone else. I'm very happy to have sold», revealed the sailor.
The Brazilian Olympic champion Robert Scheidt secured the 2nd place in the overall classification of the ILCA 7 class (new name for the standard laser class) and the current runner-up Briton Michael Beckett the 3rd place.
Eduardo Marques was the best Portuguese in the competition, finishing 19th, the result of an increase in performance in the last races, but it was not enough to reach an Olympic place.
Santiago Villax Sampaio finished the race in 54th, followed by Lourenço Mateus (72nd), André Granadeiro (92nd), Rui Silveira (94th), Gonçalo Castro Nunes (135th) and André Ribeiro (139th). João Pontes abandoned the race.
In the ILCA 6 class – women (new name for the radial laser class) the two Olympic places were secured for Israel by Shai Kakon and for Portugal by Carolina João in the middle of the race and attention was focused on the fight for leadership.
The Danish Anne-Marie Rindom (world and European champion 2019), was the winner after having led the table from day one. The 2nd place went to the Swedish Josefin Olsson and the Japanese Manami Doi held the 3rd place.
Carolina João, was the best Portuguese finishing in 44th and Federica Franchi got the 86th place. Mafalda Pires de Lima and Leonor Dutra abandoned the race.
The ILCA class Olympic Qualification for the European Continent, organized by Vilamoura Sailing, brought together nearly 230 sailors from 44 countries.
Now, Vilamoura Marina will host, from April 30th to May 7th, the European Championship of the 470 class and in July it will be the turn of the European Raceboard Championship, a windsurfing discipline.
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