470 Class World Championship

The day started with a slight delay as the wind dropped and conditions became unstable. After around an hour of waiting on the water, the 470 fleet finally got underway for the final two qualification races of the 2026 470 Class World Championship in Enoshima, Japan.

With five races completed, the Gold Fleet has been confirmed, with 37 teams advancing to the final stage of the championship.

Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona head into the Gold Fleet as the overall leaders. The 2025 World Champions delivered another strong performance, finishing 1st and 4th in Friday’s races.

Jordi Xammar: “It has been a very difficult second day on paper,” said the Catalan helmsman, who won bronze in these same waters in 2021, “but a very positive one for us. We sailed well and we’re happy. Scoring a first and a fifth is better than the target we had set ourselves, so we’re very pleased with the day. Tomorrow, with the first day of the Finals, the championship starts again. The important thing is to stay focused and be clear about the key points for the day, as we were today.”

Marta Cardona highlighted the pair’s positive feeling: “Tomorrow the championship starts again with this format, but after the two great days we’ve had, we’re feeling good and strong, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to do our job.”

They are followed by Germany’s Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing, who produced the best results of the day, scoring 1st and 2nd. France’s Manon Pennaneac’h and Pierre Williot complete the top three overall.

“It was really shifty. We had some big clouds affecting the race course. I don’t know what I can say about how it went that well. I think we had quite a lucky hand with our plan before the races. There are definitely some analytical aspects to reading the clouds, but once you were into the race, it was really crazy and you just needed to try to take what you had. We managed that really well today,” said Malte Winkel.

In the first race of yellow fleet, Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing delivered an impressive performance, finishing at the front of the fleet. Winkel brings considerable experience from the 470 Class. The German pair have been sailing together for just three months, but their partnership has quickly produced strong results.

“We teamed up just three months ago, so we had a lot of work to do. She was already coming from the 470 and had experience from junior events, and it worked out really well from the beginning. We have tried to do a lot of training over the last three months and we are really happy to be here in Japan for the Worlds. As it looks so far, we are not doing too many things wrong, so we are quite happy with that,” said the German team.

Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Lindner took second place, bouncing back strongly after yesterday’s bad luck with damage to their spinnaker. The Swedish team returned to the front of the fleet with a solid performance. Japan’s Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki crossed the line in third.

Xammar and Cardona won the first race in the Blue Fleet, junior team Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel continued their excellent form, finishing second, while Hannah Bristow and James Taylor crossed the line in third.

The final qualification races also produced strong performances from the Japanese teams. Shunsui Oishi and Wako Yokota won the final race in the Yellow Fleet, with the German duo finishing second. In the Blue Fleet, Elena Berta and Giulio Cattaro dominated the final race, finishing with a clear advantage over their rivals.

“We had a good start. We will do our best in the final. We have been practising together since the beginning of the year. I think we have a good combination. Our strength is that we are not good at just one kind of wind. If we have a good start and sail well, we can get good results,” said the Italian team.

With the qualification series now complete, attention turns to the Gold Fleet and the decisive final races of the championship.

A legend of the 470 Class visits Enoshima

The 2026 470 Class World Championship has also welcomed one of the biggest names in the history of the class: Matthew Belcher, one of the most decorated sailors ever in the 470.

Belcher’s presence in Enoshima adds a special connection between the championship’s current generation of sailors and the rich history of the 470 Class.