This Wednesday, Carolina João guaranteed Portugal a place in Tokyo 2020 in the ILCA 6 class in the European Olympic Qualification that is taking place in Vilamoura.
Since the first day of competitions, the Portuguese athlete has managed to keep her distance from her main opponents, reaching her goal.
“I'm very happy to have won the Olympic place, especially in the middle of the race. I managed to solve the main objective, now in the finals is to give my best and always try to climb in qualifying”, says Carolina João.
The first two days of the race went well for the Portuguese athlete being "fairly consistent" and finishing the races in the "top 20", but today, "it was a bad day" with "many jumps and pressure differences", she still managed to "celebrate ” the clearance.
The next few months are for training for his debut in Olympic games, for which he does not set any goals for now, something that will depend on the preparation that, he guarantees, he will do "as best he can".
The young Israeli sailor Shai Kakon also secured the Olympic spot for Israel. Visibly moved, she assumes that it is “extraordinary” to have the opportunity to go to the Olympic Games still “so young”.
At just 18 years old, the athlete praises the level of the sailors competing in Vilamoura – where the top 20 of the world rankings are present – assuming that she did her best.
In the ILCA 6 women's classification (new name for the radial laser class), the Danish Anne-Marie Rindom continues to lead, once again winning one of the day's races. French Marie Barrue rose today to 2nd place and Japanese Manami Doi closed the podium.
Carolina João is the best Portuguese in 43rd place, followed by Mafalda Pires de Lima (48th), Leonor Dutra (85th) and Federica Franchi (88th) in a total of 89 sailors.
In the class ILCA 7 – men (new name for the standard laser class) the fight for Olympic places is still lit with Spain and the Netherlands placing themselves at the end of 6 races, as the best candidates.
The overall standings is led by Croatian Filip Jurišić (4th in the 2020 European Championship) followed by current runner-up Briton Michael Beckett and two-time Brazilian Olympic champion Robert Scheidt who returned to the podium.
The best Portuguese is Eduardo Marques (32º), followed by Santiago Villax Sampaio (57º), Rui Silveira (72º), Lourenço Mateus (82º), André Granadeiro (96º), André Ribeiro (136º), João Pontes (137º) and Gonçalo Castro Nunes (139th) in a fleet of 139 boats.
From today onwards, the male and female fleets will be divided, with the best classifieds competing in the gold fleet and the remaining sailors joining the silver fleet.
Comments