“You only get it here” – Epic Mistral baptises the next Olympic generation in Hyères

ILCA 7
Three races today

Hong Kong’s Nicholas Halliday kept the overall lead with three impressive races on a high-scoring day in the evolving conditions after the 11:00 start. Halliday was third in the first race in yellow group, won the second and was fifth in the third as the Mistral blew in.

The Netherlands’s Duko Bos stayed in second but was unhappy with his 6, 5, 3 in blue group.
Italy’s Dimitri Peroni (2, 11, 5 in blue group) moved into third.

Nicholas Halliday (HKG): “I was just hanging on for my life on the last downwind – and the ILCA 6 are still going! It actually started off a bit light but was picking up throughout the day and the last race was just pure survival conditions. It was epic. It was just hiking, and then hanging on for the downwind. It started off at about 10-12 knots, the second race was 15-18 knots and the last race, I have no idea, 20+. I’m really happy. I didn’t know what to expect coming in to today. I had a pretty big discard, but, I’m pretty happy to come away with three top tens.”

Duko Bos (NED): “It was a tough day, I think I made it quite hard for myself. But in the end made it through ok. Every race was different and it was good racing! (Laughing). It built, it definitely built. We were blue group and the last, it was proper Mistral. We expected it and it came! It was fun. [Lot of capsizing?] Well, on the way home! (laughing), when you’re not focussed it’s easy. In the breeze, the guys you would expect were there. In the light, well not light, still hiking, but in the first race, there were more people, so yeah, actually, I wouldn’t say easier, but it got a bit more spread out when it got windy.”

Formula Kite (men’s and women’s kite)
Women (22 entries)
Five races today

China hold the top two spots after Jingyue Chen jumped into second place after winning the first two races of the day and backing that up with a second and third (either side of a DNC for not finishing the fourth race).

China’s Wan Li is vulnerable at the top after having to discard her 9, 8 in the first two races, a 3, 3, 2 finish ensured she keeps the overall lead overnight.

Britain’s Lily Young (4, 4, 7, 4, 5) is in third and all will be alert to the threat of France’s Lauriane Nolot (silver medallist in Paris 2024), who was back in full flight with two second places and two victories before a crash prevented her finishing the last race.

Lauriane Nolot (FRA): “For me, it’s a gentle return to form, and I see that I’m improving little by little, which is nice. Today I really enjoyed myself, I like the strong wind conditions. I was in the lead in the last race and downwind I got hit by the sail, I was forced to head back (to shore) early. But I’m very happy! Today I had that feeling of commitment and I was making good progress compared to the others.”

Men (60 entries)
Five races today

The 18-year-old Singaporean, Maximilian Maeder (2, 1, 1, 16, 2), re-took the overall lead after winning two of the five races and finishing second in the first and last of gold fleet. Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi, won the first race and was second in the second before he dropped back, but is still in touching distance. With a gap behind them, Greece’s Kameron Maramenidis is currently ending the keen battle for third.

Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)
29 entries
Two races today

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei confirmed their dominance of the field in all conditions by winning both races and have opened up a 16-point lead on the field after eight races.

Austria’s Laura Farese & Matthäus Zöchling (7, 7, 4) held on to second place and Britain’s John Gimson & Anna Burnett (2, 5, 3), winners in Palma just ahead of the Italian duo, moved into third place and just a point behind the Austrians, with the podium looking like a battle between the top five.

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei (ITA)
Gianluigi Ugolini: “Two nice races. We had the chance to do two races in good conditions, not forced, you know. Happy. The second one, after the start, it built up really fast and it reached 20-25. The problem was the waves, because normally we can sail really easily in 20-25 knots, but with waves, it’s a bit tricky. I think we were able to open up big gaps (on the fleet), we had a really good strategies, so we got into first position from the start and then just let the boat go as fast as possible.”

49er (men’s and women’s double-handed skiff)
Women’s FX (38 entries)
Three races today

USA’s re-formed duo, Paris Henken & Helena Scutt moved to the top of the leaderboard with another high-scoring day in the fleet making it one the hardest to call. They finished second in the first race of the day and were then ninth and tenth in the next two.

But that was enough to displace Belgium’s Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts who finished 14, 15, 8 after a day of troubled starts saw them slip back to second overall. France’s Lara Granier and Amélie Riou (5, 6, 5) enjoyed one of the best days to jump up into third place

USA – FX
Paris Henken & Helena Scutt (USA):

Helena Scutt: “We had a good day, it was super fun. That third race. really ticked up, and it was like, all right, boat handling queens here!”

Paris Henken: “Our mantra today was sail to what you see and what you have. We stayed pretty consistent. We didn’t win any races, but we passed boats when we could and tried not to make too many mistakes.”

Paris Henken: “At two minutes to go (before the last race), there was actually like a big hole, not much wind and maybe that was kind of like the telltale sign that something was going to change. But it maybe got up to 16, 17, 18 knots. It wasn’t crazy until like literally right when we were finishing.”

Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts (BEL): Anouk Geerts: “It’s a super big fleet and a high scoring regatta. Everyone is a bit up and down, so it’s so hard to to say. And every day you can come away with 15 points or 50 points almost. I think every day is very important on its own.”

Isaura Maenhaut: “We enjoyed it! It felt a bit harder for us today. We struggled a little bit to come off the start, so it was about fighting back through the pack, which we managed quite well. But it was a bit hard to do our own strategy, which was a bit of unfortunate. In the third race we managed to still be in the top 10, so that was good. We just managed to all finish in decent sailable conditions, just after the finish, it really picked up. Because actually for the first race we had relatively light winds. So it was a mix of everything today.”

Men’s 49er (67 entries)
Three races today

Despite being disqualified in blue group’s second race for a premature start, Uruguay’s duo of Hernando Umpierre and Fernando Diz jumped to the top of a tightly-packed leaderboard by finishing fourth in the first race and sixth in the third. Britain’s James Grummett and Rhos Hawes, won the first race in yellow group and were then eighth and fourth to move into second place overall. Poland’s Dominik Buksak & Adam Głogowski (5, 2, 8 in yellow group) moved into third. It is anyone’s fleet still.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)
39 entries
One race today

Germany’s Simon Diesch & Anna Markfort extended their lead by winning the only race of the day possible as the Mistral took hold. Spain’s Olympic bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 (2021), Jordi Xammar Hernández, with his new teammate, Marta Cardona Alcántara, were second to move into second place overall, but the German duo already have an 11-point lead after six races. France have the next three boats, but Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes slipped back to third overall after finishing seventh.