It was a day of change at the top of the standings across the Youth Sailing World Championships, as plenty of new leaders emerged after a third day of racing.
Italian sailors led the charge, as Carola Colasanto rose to the top of the iQFOiL female class with two victories, while Mattia Cesana now has a healthy lead in the ILCA 6 male.
There was also success for Quan Cardi and Mattia Tognocchi, who reclaimed top spot in the 420 male, while Emma Mattivi sits top of the ILCA 6 female class.
Elsewhere, there was an impressive trio of bullets from Stanisław Trepczyński (POL) to haul him to the top of the iQFOiL male class.
He joins Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska as Polish sailors currently in gold medal positions.
iQFOiL Female
Carola Colasanto (ITA) bookended her day on the water with bullets to climb to the top of the iQFOiL female standings.
Colasanto claimed victory in the first race of the day, finishing ahead of Darcey Shaw (GBR) and Kristyna Pinosova (CZE) and signed off in style with a win in race 12 ahead of Pinosova.
Emma Viktoria Millend (EST) finished ahead of Shaw and Sophia Elina Meyer (GER) to claim her first victory of the competition and now sits sixth.
Merve Vatan (TUR), who led overnight, won race 10 but slipped down the standings after three finishes outside the top 10.
iQFOiL Male
Three straight bullets to end the day fired Stanisław Trepczyński (POL) to the top of the iQFOiL male standings, level on points with Leonardo Tomasini (ITA).
The Polish sailor won the three final races of the day which combined with an earlier finish of third left him on 21 points alongside Tomasini, who also took a bullet in the penultimate race of the day.
The pair sit 15 points ahead of third-placed Noé Garandeau, who twice finished third but could not add to his three bullets from the first two days of racing.
The day’s first race was won by Val Erzen (SLO), who sits fifth overall, one point behind Shaw.
Trepczyński then picked up three back-to-back bullets, with Robin Zeley (SUI) also taking the minimum one point from races 10 and 12.
ILCA 6 Male
An opening race bullet helped Mattia Cesana (ITA) to the top of the ILCA 6 male standings after the third day of racing.
Cesana took his second race victory of the competition, coming in ahead of Santiago Guinand (PER) and Soma Sigmond (HUN) on another day of mixed results across the fleet.
The second race was won by João Pontes (POR), with Guinand again second and Jack Graham-Troll (GBR) third.
It leaves Cesana with a 12-point lead in the standings after nearest challengers Hidde Schraffordt (NED) and David Ponesti Mesquida (ESP) struggled to close the gap with finishes of 35th and 36th respectively in the second race of the day after strong showings in the first.
ILCA 6 Female
Alenka Valencic (SLO) and Roos Wind (NED) both earned bullets to leave little separating the sailors at the top of the ILCA 6 female class.
Valencic took victory in the day’s opening race, finishing ahead of Sophie Zimmermann (PER) and Petra Marendic (CRO), who sits third overall.
That is just one place and six points ahead of Wind, who bounced back from a 17th-place finish in the opener to pip her Croatian opponent into second for the day’s final race, with Sienna Wright (IRL) third.
That was enough for Wright to sit second overnight, level on points with leader Emma Mattivi (ITA), who posted a pair of sixth-place finishes.
420 Male
Quan Cardi and Mattia Tognocchi (ITA) took back the lead in the 420 male with a bullet and a third-place finish on the third day of racing.
The Italian duo finished ahead of Miguel Angel Morales Hernandez and Alejandro Martin (ESP) and Dimitrios and Nikolaos Sourlatzis (GRE) to win the opening race of the day.
The pair then followed that up with a third-place finish behind Francisco Sancho and José Vozone (POR) and Joe Leith and Joshua Ferrissey (NZL).
It proved enough to lift them into first with three races remaining, 11 points ahead of both Morales Hernandez and Martin and previous leaders Jean-Philippe Boudard and Zou Schemmel, who picked up 15 points on day three.
420 Female
Zeynep Çaçur and Zeynep Ela Koy (TUR) picked up their first bullet to close the gap at the top of the 420 female standings.
The Turkish pair stormed to victory in the day’s opening race, with Maayan Shemesh and Emilie Louviot (ISR) second and leaders Joana Faulhaber Tostes Antunes Gonç and Gabriela Vassel (BRA) fourth.
Çaçur and Koy then came second in the day’s second and final race behind Ana Grubelić and Sara Vuletic (CRO).
It means they now sit 14 points behind leaders Faulhaber Tostes Antunes Gonç and Vassel, who finished fifth in the second race, and three points behind Shemesh and Louviot in second.
Close behind is Kerkezou Iakovina and Giannouli Danai (GRE), who are just a point further back from the Turkish duo, after posting finishes of fourth and sixth.
29er Female
Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska maintained their dominant lead in the 29er female class despite bullets going elsewhere on day three of competition.
The Polish pair sit 16 points clear of Fleur Babin and Sarah Jannin, who strengthened their grip on second with two bullets.
The French duo edged leaders Lewandowska and Żmudzińska into second on the first and last races of the day, with the other won by Laura Hamilton and Carolina Zager (USA).
The Americans edged Jule Ernst and Louisa Schmidt (GER) and Boróka and Szonja Fehér (HUN), with the Hungarians now third overall.
29er Male/Mixed
Karl Devaux and Hugo Revil (FRA) kept their hold on top spot of the 29er male standings but face stiff competition from Alex Demurtas and Giovanni Santi (ITA).
Devaux and Revil clinched victory in the opening race of the day, their fourth of the competition, but were not allowed to extend their lead as the Demurtas and Santi won the final two races.
The Italians bid to reel in their French rivals who took a blow after a seventh-place finish in race seven, with Lukas Kraus and Ondrej Bastar (CZE) and Charlie Gran and Sam Webb (GBR) finishing behind Devaux and Revil.
But Demurtas and Santi bounced back with consecutive bullets to sit 14 points off the summit overnight, edging out the leaders in the day’s final race with Guilherme and Fernando Prazeres Menezes (BRA) taking third to climb to fourth overall, a point behind Gran and Webb.
”The wind shifted a lot in intensity,” said Guilherme. “We jumped to fourth in the classification and we’re going with everything we can to reach the top positions tomorrow and look for that podium.”
Nacra 15
A pair of bullets helped Cody Roe and Brooke Mertz (USA) back to the top of the Nacra 15 standings.
The Americans opened and closed their day with victories and a second-place finish in between proved enough to lift them above overnight leaders Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa.
The Spaniards won half of the first two day’s races but could only post two third-places alongside a sixth-place finish to yield the lead to Roe and Mertz.
Marie Mazuay and Clément Guignard (SUI) won the other race to sit fourth overall, while Côme Vic-Molinero and Ylona Jaud (FRA) finished third, fourth, and second respectively to sit nine points off the lead in third.
“It feels great,” said Guignard. “It has been a difficult start for us, we didn’t start as we wanted but we kept our heads cool.
“There are two days left with wind, so we are happy with that. First place is going to be difficult but there are two places behind, so we will keep pushing.”
Formula Kite Male
Max Maeder (SGP) continued his domination of the Formula Kite male class with another four wins on the second day of racing.
Maeder won all six races on Tuesday and picked up where he left off on Wednesday, winning all four races to see his lead extend to 10 points.
Second in all four races was Qibin Huang (CHN), who leapfrogged Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) into second overall with the Italian finishing third each time.
Formula Kite Female
It was two bullets each for Catalina Turienzo (ARG) and Derin Atakan (TUR) in Formula Kite female, to leave the pair tied at the top on 12 points apiece.
Atakan won the day’s opening two races with Turienzo second on both occasions, before the two sailors reversed roles in the final two races.
It means the duo have a 13-point lead over nearest challenger Mika Kafri (ISR), who twice finished third, with Ella Geiger (GBR) the only other sailor to finish in the top three on Wednesday.
