Poles with seven World Cup regatta medals!

Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki (AZS AWFiS Gdańsk / AZS Poznań) won the silver medal in the World Cup regatta in Hyeres in the sailing 49er class. The podium in the windsurfing iQFoil class was chased by Paweł Tarnowski, who took 4th place. These results are the culmination of a successful week for the Polish sailors, who won a total of seven medals and three Olympic qualifications in Hyeres.

From 20 to 27 April this year, Hyeres hosted the World Cup regatta as part of the French Olympic Week with the participation of Polish crews. The most reasons to be happy are the current European vice-champions, Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki, who finished 2nd in the 49er class.

– It was a demanding regatta, not only because of the weather conditions, but above all because of the stakes. There was practically only one British crew missing from the world’s top, and on top of that we were all racing in the same fleet, so it was a real verification of form and capabilities. We played the vast majority of the 14 races well tactically, made good decisions and sailed in the lead, so we are very satisfied,’ say Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki.

The regatta was won by Spaniards Diego Botin and Florian Trittel. There were two more Polish crews in the top ten – Mikołaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch (AZS AWFiS Gdańsk/PGE Sailing Team Poland) took 7th place and just behind them in 8th place was another crew from Gdańsk, Łukasz Przybytek and Jacek Piasecki.

This is another great performance by Polish sailors in this class. In the recent Princess Sofia Cup World Cup regatta on Mallorca, we also had three crews in the top ten, and Przybytek and Piasecki won the bronze medal.

Paweł Tarnowski (Sopocki Klub Żeglarski) also did well in Hyeres. The current world vice-champion took 4th place in the windsurfing iQFoil class. Among women, Maja Dziarnowska (Sopocki Klub Żeglarski / PGE Sailing Team Poland) came 10th.

Competing in the regatta of the World Cup rank in Hyeres were athletes from countries that have already secured qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris. In turn, athletes from countries not yet qualified competed in Hyeres in the Last Chance Regatta, whose stakes were not only medals but, above all, the last Olympic ‘passes’. Polish sailors rose to the challenge and won Olympic qualifications in the women’s Formula Kite, men’s Formula Kite and 49erFX classes.

Moreover, the gold medal in the 49er FX class was won by the crew of Aleksandra Melzacka and Sandra Jankowiak (YKP Gdynia / AZS Poznań), while the silver medal went to Gabriela Czapska and Hanna Rajchert (Spójnia Warszawa). In the Formula Kite class, Maks Żakowski among men and Julia Damasiewicz (both AZS Poznań) among women returned from Hyeres with silver, while Jan Marciniak (Aqua Włocławek) and Izabela Satrjan (UKŻ Wiking Toruń) won bronze.

– We did it! On top of that, even before the medal race. Wow! These are incredible emotions. We are very happy, we achieved our goal, but most of all, together with the whole team, we did a super job at this regatta. A big round of applause also for our other crew, Gabrysia and Hania are also sailing superbly here and are pushing us all the time, which is very motivating. We can’t wait to train on the Olympic water in Marseille,’ say Aleksandra Melzacka and Sandra Jankowiak.

In the 470 and ILCA 7 classes, the Poles failed to win an Olympic qualification for the country. At the Olympic area in Marseille, where the sailing part of the Games will be held, Poland will therefore have representatives in seven of the ten competitions. Sailors in the women’s Formula Kite, men’s Formula Kite, women’s iQFoil, men’s iQFoil, 49er, 49erFX and ILCA 6 classes will compete for medals.

This year, 330 sailors, 165 men and 165 women each, will compete in 10 classes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will run from 26 July to 11 August.

Photos: Sailing Energy

Source: PortalMorski.pl