The Techno293 Worlds conclude in Quiberon

The final two days of this 2023 World Championships passed off in similar conditions to the preceding ones: strong winds, alternating sun and showers, good enough for the race committee to run several more rounds of racing. And on Friday they were also able to run a long distance, something we hadn’t seen at a World Championships for a long time. An occasion for some huge, long up and downwind runs to explore the magnificent bay of Quiberon and visit some of the big marker buoys where the wild sea birds like to perch. The raid was followed by two more rounds of racing, after a good and well-deserved break for everyone to get their breath back. But the last possible day for racing was cut short when the wind rose above the 30 knot mark. In the end, only the U15 Boys and both Techno Plus groups were able to get through 11 races, it was 10 for all the others. The week passed quickly, but all the competitors will have made their journey home with lots of great memories and plenty of new friends and contacts from all over the world. And many of them will have learned a huge amount from spending the week racing against the best in the world in their age group. That’s another of Techno’s many roles !

The Techno 293 OD class has once again demonstrated its good state of health in all the age groups, and a spread of nations in the medal positions showing how competitive many of them are becoming. The strong French presence, returning to international Techno 293 OD events, is also a very good sign. The members of the federation present in Quiberon have a very positive view of the future and expect to send strong teams to the 2024 World and European Championships, which will be held in Hungary and Greece respectively.

Final podium rankings

U13. In this youngest age group, Italy’s Alessandro Vigneri maintained his consistency to the end to climb on to the top podium step. And his compatriot Francesco Casano was able to squeeze into second place just a hair’s breadth ahead of Turkey’s Sarp Sarli in third.
Belgium’s Hugo Can Godfroid was crowned champion of the 5.0 sail category.

U15 Girls. The long-time second placed Gaia Bonezzi of Italy had a very strong finale to finish ahead of long-time leader, Turkey’s Nehir Çakmak. UK’s Sophie Clark held on comfortably for her third place ahead of France’s Thea Le Borgne.

U15 Boys. Greece’s Panagiotis Ioannou had a faultless week to assure himself of the top podium spot. He was followed by compatriot Evangelos Giannakopoulos, very strong over the closing two days, and the fast rising Milo Shaw from the UK.

U17 Girls. After a week of closely fought races and many changes to the rankings, it was the Turk Defne Simay Basdag who was the one in top spot when the action stopped.Greece’s Danai Anagnostou finished second with Italian Teresa Medde in third.

U17 Boys. Spanish rider Bruno Barbara Tor continued his great form through the whole week to take top spot and the gold medal. He finished well ahead of Greece’s Minas Koutelas, who did well to hold off the challenge of Lithuania’s Karl Sören Tamm who had been chasing him all week.

Techno Plus Women. With the rankings wide open all week, in the end it was Italy’s Angelina Medde who eventually managed to hold on to top spot. Just ahead of Estonia’s Liisbeth Orav, followed by Spain’s Marion Lextray, who was also winner of the “Open” category.

Techno Plus Men. Greek rider Petros Kontarinis dominated this group to win the Championships ahead of another Greek, Alexandros Kokkinakis in seconds, and France’s Arthis Espagnon who had to climb a long way up the rankings to take third place. Japan’s Yoshito Katayama won the “Open” category.