The duo Pedro Costa and João Bolina, from the 49er class, who are fighting to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, dropped to 23rd position in the general classification at the 49er European Championship, taking place in Vilamoura.
After having managed to join the golden fleet of the 49er class on Friday, made up of the 25 best teams, yesterday did not go well for the Portuguese duo.
In the first regatta, Pedro Costa and João Bolina qualified in 24th place and in the second start they managed to improve their performance, finishing in 18th place. With this performance, national athletes fell to 23rd place in the general classification.
In addition to Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Israel are in the fight.
After 9 races completed, this European 49er class is led by the Austrian duo of Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl.
«The light wind that blew most of the day only allowed sailors to take action in the middle of the afternoon», the organization said in a statement yesterday.
Also, the gold fleets of the 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes only managed to hold two regattas. In 49erFX the Norwegians Helena Naess and Marie Ronningen lead the table and in Nacra 17 the first place is occupied by the Italian duo Gianluigi Ugolini and Marie Giubilei.
In Vilamoura, there are around 400 sailors and 80 coaches from 34 nations.
Organized by Vilamoura Sailing, these European Championships for the Olympic classes 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 will run until the 13th of November.
This is the first time that an Olympic qualification event for 3 classes has been held simultaneously in Portugal.
Photos: Prow Group Media
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