Olympic pathway arrives in Italy
Julian Bethwaite’s ever popular 49er will see 66 boats racing.
The Italian city of Genoa is preparing this month to host over 700 sailors for the first ever Hempel World Cup Series regatta to be held in the country.
Eight of the 10 Olympic events will be in Genoa, with racing in the 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 to be held April 15-20 while the 470s, Laser, Laser Radial, and Finn will be on April 16-21. Medal Races on the 20th and 21st will be streamed live on World Sailing’s YouTube Channel.
The 49er and 49erFX fleets will feature 66 and 51 boats respectively, and will be hotly-contested on the Genovese waters – with a familiar fight in the 49erFX.
Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze are on a run of five straight victories and are currently undefeated in the 2019 Hempel World Cup Series.
They clinched gold back in September on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic waters and swiftly followed up with another in January’s Miami sunshine. It wasn’t all smooth sailing in the US for the Brazilians, as they were initially off the pace against New Zealand’s Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, but they overcame a huge deficit in the Medal Race to upset the odds.
The Brazilian and New Zealand rivalry goes back to Rio 2016, where Grael and Kunze clinched gold by just two seconds in the Medal Race. On the road to Tokyo, there is very little separating the two teams, and Genoa will no doubt throw out another compelling narrative in the latest showdown between the Brazilians and the Kiwis.
In the 49er, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) make their first World Cup appearance for three years, having only returned to the 49er in January. The Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalists claimed America’s Cup glory together in 2017, then became rivals in 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race. They finished seventh at a fiercely-contested Trofeo Princesa Sofia and, as they continue to blow away the cobwebs, they’ll fancy their chances of a medal in Genoa. Read on
Event details – Entry list – Facebook
North American Entries (Canada, Mexico, and USA):
• 470 Men: Stuart McNay/ David Hughes, Trevor Bornarth/ Trevor Davis (USA).
• 470 Women: Nikole Barnes/ Lara Dallman-Weiss, Atlantic Brugman/ Nora Brugman, Emily Bornarth/ Laura Slovensky (USA).
• 49er Men: Nevin Snow/ Dane Wilson, Harry Melges/ Finn Rowe, Judge Ryan/ Hans Henken, Andrew Mollerus/ Ian MacDiarmid, Ian Barrows/ Mitchell Kiss (USA).
• 49erFX Women: Stephanie Roble/ Margaret Shea, Paris Henken/ Anna Tobias (USA).
• Laser Men: Robert Davis, Justin Norton, Luke Ruitenberg, Hugh Macrae (CAN); Marek Zaleski, Malcolm Lamphere, Henry Marshall, Paul Didham (USA).
• Laser Radial Women: Isabella-Anna Bertold, Maura Dewey (CAN); Hanne Weaver (USA).
• Nacra 17 Mixed: Riley Gibbs/ Anna Weis, Ravi Parent/ Caroline Atwood, Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg (USA).
• Finn Men: No entries
