Cascais, 6 July 2007 - Measurement and registration has been complete, and it means the Men’s and Women’s 470 Fleets are ready to start their first race tomorrow at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal.
World’s best Two Person Dinghy sailors from about 47 nations are present here at Cascais, to challenge for either the World Championship Title, or an early country qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games to take place in August next year.
Most title challengers have been running an intensive training programme at the venue the last few months to get acquainted with the local conditions, which are perfect for sailing, but with the necessary difficulties that make them worth a World Championship event.
Sailors have been making their last preparations the last few days in very tough conditions with strong winds and gusts over 30 knots.
“ The wind is calling” is the motto of the event. Although there may be wind every day, sailors say it plays its own game with shifts and holes that may let the wind drop in local regions on the race course.
It seems all ingredients are there for a World Championship on the highest level of performance.
Title defenders Nic ASHER and Elliot WILLIS from Great Britain have recovered from a light injury that withheld them from participating at the last three major events, including the European Championships in Greece last month. They are ready for the battle now and heavy wind specialists and World Champions of 2004/05, Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE (AUS) will be looking for revenge, after losing the title to ASHER and WILLIS in last year’s World Championships in China.
It seems like competition has never be as strong as today in the 470 Men’s Fleet. The Top 20 of the World Rankings show many sailors who have been standing on a podium at a major event recently. At the last European Championships 10 teams from 9 nations competed in the final Medal Race, and it can only get better with the knowledge that all top players are present here in Cascais.
World Championships in the sailing sport are not new to Cascais. The last decennia a lot of International Championship events have taken place here in different International classes. It’s perfect sailing conditions, and the experience and enthusiasm of it’s people have resulted in today’s situation that one of World’s biggest sailing events takes place here.
Marcelien DE KONING and Lobke BERKHOUT from the Netherlands have the chance to score a Worlds Title Hat trick if they manage to win the World Championship for the third time in a row. The conditions seem to suit them very well, but they will look at some very strong competition from many teams with whom they have been in very tight competition the last few years.
At last year’s World Championship , the Ladies from Sweden Teresa TORGERSSON and Vendela ZACHRISSON and The Dutch were caught up in a very close battle, however the Swedish got disqualified in the second race of the Championship, which caused them the loss of their discard in a very early stage in the Championship with all risks during the further development of the event.
Christina BASSADONE and Saskia CLARK (GBR), also high wind specialists, will be keen to continue the battle from San Francisco in 2005, where they came second to the Dutch team.
But there a many more 470 Ladies teams from different countries who have been performing very well, and have been entering the top five at major events lately in varying conditions. Like in the 470 Men’s Fleet, there is a high number of new teams coming into the 470 Class, all with the same goal: to win the World Championship.
Racing will start tomorrow
470 Men: 13:00
470 Women: 16:00
//ENDS
NOTE TO THE EDITORS
Event Information
For more information about the ISAF Sailing World Championships and the 470 World Championships, visit the web site http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/
The 470 Class
For more information about 470 Internationale, visit the web site www.470.org
ISAF World Rankings
The official ISAF World Rankings of 470 sailing sportsmen, go to www.sailing.org/rankings/
Photography
High Resolution pictures will be made available to the media during the event.
All information will be provided to the media in the press releases and the Press Kit
Contact - Enquiries
For media enquiries about the 470 World Championships, please contact:
Mr. Rick van Wijngaarden
Mobile: +31 6 46 200 333
Email:info@sail470.org
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