Leaders Take Charge on Opening Day of T293 Windsurfing World Championships
It was a very colourful morning at the Spartacus Sailing Club on the first day of the Suzuki Techno293 World Surfing Championships in Balatonföldvár, with hundreds of sails spread out, leaving almost no free space.
But it seems that the Sunday practice was useful, everyone was even more disciplined and hit the water to one of the two courses. The 340 competitors were spread out on the water, on the Alpha course the U13 and U15 boy and girls in the light windy conditions, while the Bravo course saw the U17, U19 and Techno Plus category to compete. The field hit the water at 10am and returned at 2pm, with all three races taking place on the first day.
There were no lack of good results for Hungary, with Kristóf Gerlits winning the third race in Techno Plus and ended the day in 13th place ahead of Máté Kossovits, with the Japanese competitors claiming the podium with a brilliant first day of racing. In the U17s Kristóf Jancsó came close to third overall, finishing third in the second race. In the U15 girls’ category, Dalma Gádorfalvi did well, finishing second in the third race to take third place overall place after the first day, and the U13 category also had a great Hungarian performance.
“My goal in the morning was to finish in the top five. The wind was shifty and a bit fluffy, but my start went well and I was quite sharp and had to be careful not to be covered. I had a Polish opponent who was sailing a 5.0 sail like me, I wanted to beat him anyway, and there were the Italians, although they were 5. 8 sail, but it doesn’t matter, everyone is the same opponent, no matter what size they sail have” – said Antal Körtvélyesi after the first day, who finished fourth in the U13s, and in the third race he beat the whole 5.8 field with a 5.0 sail, and in the overall standings he is only behind of a Spanish trio.
In the U15 boys’ race, Greece’s Evangelos Kyriazakos had a great race, struggling to get into the groove in the first race but finishing first and second in the next two to races finish the day at the top of the age group.
“I had to pump the whole race because there wasn’t much wind, but I was one hundred percent focused and enjoyed the races,” said the young Greek, “I was a bit confused in the first one, but in the other two I was able to focus better and beat my main rivals, the Spanish and Italian guys. In the sea the water is salty, but here in the lake it’s not, which changes the way you windsurf, but it’s not that hard to change. In fact, I’m really happy to surf in the sea at my club, but I can also try myself here on the lake, I like the subtle differences. The Hungarian competition is very well organised, Hungary is a nice place and everything is very green here!”
DAY 1, RESULTS:
TECHNO PLUS MEN:
1. Yuma Fujita (Japan) 10
2. Daiki Mishiba (Japan) 13
3rd Daigo Komatsu (Japan) 15
TECHNO PLUS, WOMEN:
1. Nefeli Anagnostou (Greece) 10
2. Kristyna Chalupníková (Czech Repiblik) 11
3. Kokoro Hirose (Japan) 13
U17, BOYS:
1. Panagiotis Ioannou (Greece) 5
2. Agapitos Michalis Stamatoulakis (Greece) 7
3. Pavlos Kallitsis Alagkiozian (Greece) 12
U17, GIRLS:
1. Danai Anagnostou (Greece) 5
2. Martina Bárbara Tor (Spain) 11
3. Charline Quercy (France) 14
U15, BOYS:
1. Evangelos Kyriazakos (Greece) 11
2. Alessandro La Sala (Italy) 17
3rd Tommaso Nicola Vallini (Italy) 18
U15, GIRLS:
1. Lindia Miel Pousa Dios (Spain) 6
2. Olivia Sánchez Moral (Spain) 6
3. Gádorfalvi Dalma (Hungary) 14
U13:
1. Joan Servera (Spain) 10
2. Joshua Castro Jurek (Spain) 12
3rd Biel Martorell Blasco (Spain) 16
4. Antal Körtvélyesi (Hungary) 19