Andy Maloney of New Zealand wins 2021 Finn Gold Cup in Porto, Portugal.
Malony completed his return to the International Finn circuit by winning the class World Championship and keeping the title in New Zealand.
Zsombor Berecz of Hungary, who had moved to within five points of Malony on Tuesday, failed to sustain his charge and a poor set of final-day results dropped him off from the podium, finishing fourth overall after Wedneday’s three final races.
Spain’s Joan Cardona moved into second on the podium, seven points off Maloney, with 2019 winner Josh Junior of New Zealand holding onto third place a further three points back.
Britain’s Giles Scott (16,14,16) failed to make any impression on the final day dropping to ninth overall.
Scott, the reigning Olympic champion, says he will “regroup” for the upcoming Olympic Games after a “disappointing” ninth-place finish.
Deniss Karpak of Estonia won the first race of the day ahead of Luke Muller of the USA.
Aussie Jake Lilley won the second race ahead of Nicholas Heiner of Holland, who then reversed things to take the final race ahead of Lilley.
Joan Cardona took the U23 division title, and won the European Continental Qualifier for Spain. For the African Continental Qualifier, Leo Davis, from South Africa, was unopposed.
Scott’s right-hand man, training partner Henry Wetherell, ended his Finn career with a 13th-place finish, adding to the seventh he scored at the Europeans in April.
“That was my last Finn regatta, and I’m glad to come away with some solid Europeans and worlds results… now it’s a big push to finish the training with Giles before the Olympics.”
Finn Gold Cup – Final Leaders after 9 races, 1 discard (52 entries)
1st NZL 61 Andy Maloney – – 3 2 8 -23 3 2 15 5 6 – – 44 pts
2nd ESP 26 Joan Cardona – – 11 1 2 11 5 10 3 8 -28 – – 51 pts
3rd NZL 24 Josh Junior – – 10 5 10 -20 2 1 14 3 9 – – 54 pts
4th HUN 40 Zsombor Berecz – – 9 11 1 2 6 5 -19 17 10 – – 61 pts
5th CRO 10 NENAD Bugarin – – 13 9 21 5 1 7 4 6 -31 – – 66 pts
6th USA 91 Luke Muller – – 1 12 14 26 11 6 2 -27 4 – – 76 pts
7th AUS 1 Jake Lilley – – 18 15 5 8 10 -27 23 1 2 – – 82 pts
8th NED 89 Nicholas Heiner – – 7 17 26 9 17 9 -38 2 1 – – 88 pts
9th GBR 41 Giles Scott – – -20 4 20 3 12 4 16 14 16 – – 89 pts
10th ESP 17 Pablo Guitián sarria – – 17 6 4 4 -27 15 13 9 23 – – 91 pts
11th SUI 1 Nils Theuninck – – 2 7 22 18 7 18 -29 19 13 – – 106 pts
12th GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis – – 5 27 7 6 13 25 5 -35 18 – – 106 pts
13th GBR 71 Henry Wetherell – – -28 14 27 10 21 16 11 15 11 – – 125 pts
14th ARG 48 Facundo Olezza – – 15 22 3 UFD 22 8 27 18 14 – – 129 pts
15th CRO 369 Milan Vujasinovic – – 22 23 19 24 4 24 10 -33 5 – – 131 pts
16th ESP 7 Alejandro Muscat – – 14 3 6 -36 26 28 30 13 12 – – 132 pts
17th SWE 33 Max Salminen – – 24 13 13 -25 8 14 20 23 22 – – 137 pts
18th FRA 17 Fabian Pic – – 21 -26 12 14 16 13 12 26 24 – – 138 pts
19th CZE 5 Ondrej Teply – – 6 25 17 30 -41 21 17 16 7 – – 139 pts
20th NOR 1 Anders Pedersen – – 27 21 9 13 9 26 -39 20 26 – – 151 pts
