An emotional and immensely proud Zsombor Berecz crossed the finish line of the 2018 Finn Gold Cup medal race at the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark in first place to make history. He becomes the first Hungarian to ever win a major Finn championship. Defending champion Max Salminen took the silver while Pieter-Jan Postma won bronze.
The first eight nations have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games after two more races at Hempel Sailing World Championships in Aarhus. The only thing left to decide now is who will win the 2018 Finn Gold Cup in Thursday’s medal race.
Only a handful of Finn sailors managed anything approaching consistency on the fifth day of the 2018 Finn Gold Cup at the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark. Scoring a second from last and then a second place, European champion Ed Wright takes a seven-point lead at the top after two more races on Tuesday. Tom Ramshaw is up to second and Josh Junior up to third after most of the top ten picked up at least one high score.
Despite spending five hours afloat on Monday at the Hempel Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, nothing much happened in the Finn class on its fourth scheduled day of racing. The 90 Finn sailors got a little bit wet, a little bit tired and a little bit bored. But no racing was possible.
The numbers paint a picture that words cannot aptly describe. Everyone expected Aarhus to be a tricky venue, but the conditions on Day 3 for the Finns at the Hempel Sailing World Championships, for the Finn Gold Cup, turned the tricky level up to 11.
In only his second event after returning to the Finn since the Rio 2016 Olympics, Pieter-Jan Postma has taken the lead at the Finn Gold Cup at the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark after three more races for each group were sailed to bring the series back on schedule. Tom Ramshaw is up to second with Josip Olujic in third. Luke Muller also become the only sailor to win more than one race so far, with two impressive victories.
The Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark for the Finn Gold Cup got off to a slow start on Thursday after only one race was possible as the gradient and thermal breezes fought all day long. When the sea breeze finally won late in the afternoon, Jorge Zarif and Josip Olujic took the race wins in their groups after a shifty race in 8-12 knots of wind.
The Finn class is not only the physically toughest of all the Olympic classes, but the level of the competition is perhaps at its highest level for a long time. In Part 2 of our preview of the Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018, we look at some more of the main contenders and challengers and the defender.
With just two days to go until the start of the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark, the Finn fleet is making final preparations and controlling its excitement as the first race day approaches on Thursday.
In the tradition of strong wind Finn racing that transcends and inspires generation after generation of young sailors, the on-board videos that have been published over the past few days of the medal race at the 2018 Finn European Championships in Cádiz have held viewers mesmerised and awestruck.