A cloudy and almost windless morning in Gizzeria, Italy, welcomed the 65 young competitors at Hang Loose Beach on the penultimate day of the 2021 Formula Kite U10 and A’s Youth Foil World Championship. Everyone was looking up, hoping for the wind to blow as so many positions were at stake with only one day to go before the Medal Series on 'Super Sunday'.
The clouds were gone by noon thanks to a light breeze that filled the air and the three fleets were right out on the water for what turned out to become another day with great sailing conditions.
It is crucial to end the day in the top 14 to advance to the Medal Series, and even more to be the first and second as the best two competitors go directly through to the Finals with respectively two and one match points on the scoreboard. Sailors from third to 14th must race two short Semifinal races divided into two six-rider fleets, leaving their Opening Series’ score behind. The winners of the two Semifinals will go ahead to join tonight’s first two in the all deciding four-rider Final, The first competitor to get three points on the scoreboard will be crowned World Champion and end the competition. That is why being tonight’s leader is so critical - they will only need to win a single race to claim the gold medal.
The Medal Series is only reserved to fleets with more than 20 competitor, and as a result, the 17 Formula Kite women will just keep going with three more races tomorrow.
Today, they were the ones to kick the day off in a 8-9 knots breeze that increased to 15 knots throughout the day, and after four races the top three spots were confirmed. Nina Arcisz (POL) is third, Magdalena Magdalena Woyciechowska (POL) second and Julia Damasiewicz (POL) defended the leadership with yet another four bullets!
“I had a great day today, we had my favorite conditions, so super fun with lots of tight races and I am pretty happy! The match with Magdalena is going all right, she is very good and I was happy to add four more bullets in the scoreboard. Tomorrow is the last day of this regatta and I hope we’ll be able to sail”, commented a radiant Julia.
Julia Damasiewicz (POL)
In the Formula Kite Men, after a scary DNC in the first race due to equipment failure, Maximilian Maeder (SGP) goes into tomorrow’s Medal Series as the number one with two match points in his bag. Only one point for number two, Riccardo Pianosi (ITA), they will both be waiting in the Finals for the winners of the Semifinals among their competitors ranked from third to 14th. “We are going to fight until tomorrow” both Max and Riccardo said at the end of the day while congratulating each other, and Riccardo then added “Max is a big boy, he is too fast to catch, I will do my best to beat him but it will be difficult, he is in great shape this week”.
Last week for the World Series, Riccardo finished ahead of Max.
Maximilian Maeder (SGP)
Same fate for the A’s Youth Foil first and second, Jan Koszowski (POL) and Mikhail Novikov (RUS), they will go straight to the Finals with two and one match points each, waiting for the two winners of the Semifinals. “It was fun racing today, I am happy for Jan and Mikhail going to the Finals, I will do my best to win the Semis and join them” said Angelo Soli (ITA), third ranked in the A’s. “I managed to always be in the top three in a very competitive fleet, but tomorrow is the big day!”
Jan Koszowski (POL)
The forecast for tomorrow doesn't look promising, but with a target time of six minutes for the Medal Series, the Race Committee will do its best to find some wind to complete the long and challenging 2021 Youth World Championships.
A's Youth Foil Results after 16 races (3 discards)
| 1 | POL 50 | Jan Koszowski | 20 pts |
| 2 | RUS 17 | Mikhail Novikov | 23 pts |
| 3 | ITA 75 | Angelo Soli | 32 pts |
| 4 | BEL 57 | Daan Baute | 56 pts |
| 5 | ISR 59 | Ido Barzilay | 62 pts |
Full results: https://www.youthfoil.org/sailwave/liveresults.htm
