The first day of the 420 World Championships took place in Alsóörs in the classic bouffant, challenging, vortex and medium-strength North Balaton winds.
| The start (Photo: Gábor Cserta) |
The field of 244 pairs completed two races over two laps, finally taking off at 1:00 p.m. instead of the planned 10:00 a.m. The storm avoided the area, but the wind came in, so we could see some exciting racing.
In the men’s/mixed class, Israeli duo Roy Levy and Ariel Gal took first place, winning both races. Conditions were very good, winds of twelve knots with a few gusts in the last round. We started well and were able to win both races. The most important thing now is not to pay attention to what the opponents are doing in this whirling wind, but to focus only on ourselves. I really like the site, and today was a good day from a competition point of view as well – we are satisfied with the result.”
Today he also had a great Hungarian result: the duo of Benedek Szucks and Pence Sismazia took second place in the second race. With a thirteenth place finish in the first race, the Hungarian boys rank fourteenth overall, making them the best Hungarians.
“In the first race we had an average run and ran towards 10th, which is very good, but then in the second race we did better, even though I made a big mistake in the end, we managed to improve and ended up in second place. Pence Gizmazia said. – Today’s conditions really suited our style, and we were able to keep up with the foreigners really well, which we were very pleased with. We were able to improve continuously, we learned a lot already.”
“For us, these conditions are very common, and we like this kind of strong wind Benedek Szűcs added. – We know the Tihany Basin and its surroundings better, but that’s also the Balaton, we feel right at home. It feels great to compete in such a busy international field, we have gained so much experience. Hopefully we can have a similarly good day tomorrow, or better, and get into the golden group. This is our goal.”
The first day brought Spanish dominance in the women’s field: after two races, three Spanish pairs took the top three places. Among the top spots, duo Paula Laiseca Bueno and Isabel Laiseca Bueno are waiting to continue.
“We had a good day, in the first race we started first and were able to hold the lead until the end, but in the second it was a very bad start, but our speed was very good, so we were able to win this race as well. Paula Lisica Bueno said. – This is also a special pleasure for us, because when we left the port we were not even sure that we could organize races in this wind, compared to this, by the time we got out, we were greeted with perfect conditions and the stable. Wind. We are enjoying the race so far, although we only arrived yesterday so we didn’t have time to look around, we are having a great time.”
In the U-17 category, German duo Severin Gerek and Xavier Schwartz finished first and second, as did Spanish duo Miguel Angel Morales Hernandez and Alejandro Martin Corujo, bringing them 3-3 points in the overall standings. The Germans are in first place because according to the rules, improving direction is important, and they won the second race.
420 World Championships, less
Men/Mixed: 1. Roy Levy, Ariel Gal (Israel) 2 ranking points, 2. Ian Walker, Finn Dickey (Spain) 3, 3. Luca Tagliani, Silvia Versolato (Italy) 4, … 14. Benedek Szűcs, Bence Csizmazia (Hungarian) 15th
Women: 1. Paula Laesca Bueno, Isabel Lisica Bueno (Spain) 2, 2. Nora Garcia de la Casa, Mariona Ventura Rilat (Spain) 5, 3. Maria Pelleiro Moura, Marta Cardona Alcantara (Spain) 7, … 50. Annie Domokos Lisa Nagy (Hungarian) 52
U17: 1. Severin Gerek, Xavier Schwartz (German) 3, 2. Miguel Angel Morales Hernandez, Alejandro Martin Korogo (Spain) 3, 3. Athanasios Lachanis, Georgios Michalopoulos (Greece) 6, … 41. Lindor Butund, Lorink Toth ( Hungarian) 44
