Medalist Comes Back - Others Face Gold Fleet Cut

It was moving day on the Bay of Urla for some who chipped away at the top three while some leaders faltered and others straddled the gold fleet cut.

Cream Rising to Top
Lauriane Nolot of France made the most of today’s sublime 14-knot conditions and even though she moved only one place up in the standings, she made a big move from eleven points out of first to only seven. The Olympic silver medalist’s 1, 3, 5, 1, scoreline, the best in the fleet, was a fine comeback after crashing out multiple times on Wednesday while getting used to her new Chubanga foils. Nolot has ridden Levitaz for five years.

© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Slowly but surely Lauriane Nolot [FRA] is finding her form

As the women’s fleet gets tighter, Britain’s Lily Young still holds onto the lead ahead of Catalina Turienzo [ARG] and Derin Atakan [TUR].

Coming back from a knee injury just weeks ago, is Gisela Pulido. The Spaniard has been religiously stretching and exercising with rubber bands before each day’s racing. A podium finisher in the past, she is slowly building muscle and is happy to just test her form and the start of a new Olympic campaign.


© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Weeks of post-injury recovery are paying off for Gisela Pulido [ESP]

“I actually had really good speed,” said Pulido, one of the smallest riders in the fleet. “But my fitness is off, I lost a lot of muscles in my legs. “My goal was to push full-on the first lap, try to chill a bit more at the top, otherwise I’d be done.”

Without the threat of a qualifying series, the women race as one fleet until the medal series cut on the final day when eight riders begin the eliminations.

Pressure Drop
With 40 knots forecast for Friday, the men’s overall standings may determine the top 19 gold fleet cut if there’s no racing tomorrow.

Whether the riders felt this pressure or not, the ones on the qualifying bubble know the tough job ahead.

Dutch rider Sam Aben sits squarely on the hump in 19th place, three points clear of Karl Maeder [SUI] and Alejandro Climent [ESP] who are tied on points.

“I’ve unfortunately been in this position before,” said Aben. “But whether we sail or not, I only have one direction to go and that’s up.”


© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Riccardo Pianosi [ITA] can't help but smile after two days of perfect scores

It’s hard to miss the spectacular performance of Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi who has yet to drop a race. Whatever frustration he has carried since missing out on an Olympic medal last summer seems to have been washed away by his clinical performance this week so far.

“Two years ago was the last time I had a bunch of firsts like this,” said a visibly relaxed Pianosi, referring to his winning performance at the 2023 European Championship. “But that was without Max [Maeder]. For sure I don’t have to get all first but I’m pretty happy right now.”


© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Where’d it go? Max Maeder [SGP] shows where his tracker used to be before he crashed hard in race 6

Maeder had been matching Pianosi’s bullets in the blue fleet until stumbling today, sitting only two points behind the Italian, but with letter scores being discarded in his scoreline. A crash in race 6, when he was in second, that ripped off his tracker and left a hole in his wetsuit, set him back. And he missed race 7 after a line tangle at the start wrecked his biggest kite.

Greek rider Cameron Maramenides remains in striking distance of the leaders, three points behind Maeder and discarding a mere fifth place.

Racing is scheduled for Friday despite the aggressive forecast. Riders will be ready for whatever the Aegean Sea throws and no matter what, there are more than a dozen riders with a shot at both the women’s and men’s European Championship.

Results are being updated as they happen, racing is being tracked, and the final days will be live streamed on FaceBook and YouTube.

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