2017 U23 Finn World Champion, Oskari Muhonen, has taken the lead at the 2019 U23 Finn World Championship for the Jorg Bruder Finn Silver Cup in Anzio, Italy.
Muhonen, from Finland, won both races sailed late on Thursday in a very difficult breeze. Joan Cardona, from Spain is down one place in second while Federico Colaninno, from Italy, is up to third.
Numerous high profile black flags combined with both good and bad performances from various players has set the scene for an exciting final three races to decide the 2019 U23 and U19 champions.
In Race 7, Liam Orel, from Slovenia, still an U19, stormed out of the start and nailed the first few shifts perfectly to hold a good lead at the top from Cardona and Guillaume Boisard, of France.
Orel lead through the gate but on the second beat had Cardona on one side and Muhonen on the other. Muhonen came through to lead downwind, but Cardona was close enough to challenge and an overlap at the final gate was enough to steel second place with Orel in third.
Race 8 took three attempts to start, finally under black flag with seven boats pulled out including Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland, who won, and Lachy Gilham, from Australia in second. This left Muhonen, who crossed in third, as the race winner from Colaninno and Boisard.
James Skulczuk (6,16) of Britain picked-up a couple of places and is now in fifth overall. Callum Dixon (10,18) is in 16th and Cameron Tweedle (21,bfd) 18th.
Racing in Anzio continues Friday with two more races scheduled. Just three more races are scheduled to complete the championship, which concludes on Saturday.
Finn – U23 leading results after 8 races
1. FIN 8 Oskari Muhonen 15 pts
2. ESP 26 Joan Cardona 23 pts
3. ITA 71 Federico Colaninno 33 pts
4. SUI 1 Nils Theuninck 39 pts
5. GBR 81 James Skulczuk 53 pts
6. SWE 11 Johannes Pettersson 58 pts
7. SLO 11 Liam Orel 61 pts
8. EST 1 Taavi Valter Taveter 71 pts
9. FRA 9 Guillame Boisard 76 pts
10. CYP 1 Panagiotis Iordanou 76 pts
U19 Division
7. SLO 11 Liam Orel 61 pts
15. ITA 115 Paolo Freddi 108 pts
16. GBR 38 Callum Dixon 109 pts
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