Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman were the only Spaniards to obtain a medal in the Marseille Test Event. The mixed 470 pair, which achieved bronze last Saturday, thus confirms itself as the great national hope for the 2024 Paris Games, as the rest of the pre-Olympic national team failed to get past the Top-5. This Sunday the last day was played, the Medas Race, in 49er, 49erFX, Formula Kite and iQFOiL and despite the fact that there were several options to get more medals, such as those of Diego Botín and Florian Trittel (49er), it was an impossible mission. A bad Medal Race, they were last, it left them with no options and they ended up seventh.
Without a doubt, the best this Sunday was Nacho Balthazar. With a fifth place in the general classification, the young sailor from the Balearic Islands made clear his great projection in the new Olympic class of male iQFOiL. Balthazar he was unable to contest the Grand Final of his class, but did compete in the semi-finals. The Royal Spanish Sailing Federation has great hopes in him for the great future that he treasures, and that is At just 18 years old, he is the current European Under-21 champion. Of course, he was not the only Spaniard who managed to get into the Top-5 of his class in the Marseille Test Event because Gisela Pulido was fifth in Women’s Formula Kite. An interesting result that will give the Catalan confidence and strength for the World Cup that will be held in The Hague next August.
Precisely the World Cup is, as for everyone, the great objective of 49er couples. Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló were sixth in 49erFX and they go further in their preparation. Those who missed the medal went to Diego Botín and Florian Trittel. They started the Medal Race just one point behind bronze, but they accumulated many problems. They finished last in the Medal Race and this took its toll on the classification: seventh. He didn’t have much luck either Pilar Lamadrid in iQFOiL Female. She stayed in the quarterfinals and was ninth.
A bronze is a rare loot for a Spanish delegation that monopolizes many spotlights for its quality and capacity. Of course, the great spotlight is placed on the World Cup in The Hague, in August, which will be when the first places per country are put into play to be in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Xisco Gil, sports director of the Olympic team Spanish, as confirmed: “With these results, the Spanish Olympic team proves to be in the international Top-10 of most Olympic categoriesfacing the next objective with guarantees, which is to get the country place by class for Paris 2024 at the World Cup in The Hague”.