Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson of Sweden successfully defended the 470 Mixed European Championship title by a single point after a tense Medal Race in San Remo, Italy.
Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (GER) took silver and Hippolyte Machetti and Aloïse Retornaz (FRA) had to settle for bronze.
The points were so close that it took a few minutes before anyone could be sure of who had won.
Eventually the cheer went up from the Swedish boat as Dahlberg and Karlsson realised they had successfully defended the European title they won in Turkey eight months earlier.
Dahlberg was ecstatic, punching the damp air in sunny delight. “We were lucky but we feel so happy,” he grinned. “The French dropped some important points in the end which was unfortunate for them, but it was enough to make the small difference in our favour. It’s such a relief to defend our European Championship.”
Karlsson paid tribute to the Germans and the French they had just beaten. “It’s an honour to race against them, we had to fight really hard all week and the standard in the fleet is going up all the time,” she said.
At the prizegiving later in the afternoon Machetti was still hurting at the missed opportunity in the Medal Race, just those final 100 metres of the reach to get the gold.
“But I’m still happy we came away with a medal, a bronze, when so many boats were in contention. It was a learning experience, a tough one, but we’re getting better and a medal this week is a sign of moving in the right direction.”
Best placed British team members are Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris in 20th.
470 Mixed European Championship – Final Medal Race places (67 entries)
Gold SWE 349 Anton DAHLBERG and Lovisa KARLSSON – – 7 – – 50 pts
Silver GER 11 Simon DIESCH and Anna MARKFORT – – 6 – – 51 pts
Bronze FRA 3 Hippolyte MACHETTI and Aloïse RETORNAZ – – 4- – 53 pts
4th FRA 1 Camille LECOINTRE and Jeremie MION – – 1 – – 56 pts
5th ESP 44 Jordi XAMMAR and Nora BRUGMAN – – 8 – – 58 pts
6th AUT 1 Lara VADLAU and Lukas MAEHR – – 9 – – 66 pts
7th ITA 3 Giacomo FERRARI and Bianca CARUSO – – 5 – – 90 pts
8th JPN 8 Keiju OKADA and Miho YOSHIOKA – – 2- – 100 pts
9th ESP 18 Silvia MAS DEPARES and Nicolás RODRÍGUEZ – – 3 – – 100 pts
10th ISR 15 Nitai HASSON and Noa LASRY – – 10 – – 87 pts
