iQFoil European Champs: Armit in top ten after Day 1, ten Have mid-fleet at Lake Garda
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 17 May 2022 18:38 PDT
18 May 2022
New Zealand's Josh Armit has had a good opening day at the iQFoil Europeans being sailed in Torbole, Lake Garda in Northern Italy.
The event the first major international title for the iGFoil has attracted 200 competitors in the Mens and Womens fleet for the class which will make its Olympic debut at Paris2024.
Sailing in the Qualification Round where the 154 Mens entries are split into Blue and Yellow fleets, Armit continued his good run of form on the international circuit, with placings of 5, 3, 7 and a win in the final race of the day. The other New Zealand competitors are in the bottom third of the leaderboard.
A former Youth World Champion in the then Laser Radial class, Armit is in good company with Tokyo2020 Gold medalist Kiran Badloe (NED) in 8th overall. Former Youth World Champion in the RS:X Yoav Omer (ISR) is in 14th place overall. The series is led by Luuc van Opzeeland (NED) who scored four wins from his four races. However while van Opzeeland was the only competitor to score four race wins, when the discard is applied and competitors drop their worst performance, four competitors are all tied at the top of the fleet on 3pts each.
In the 65 entry Womens fleet Veerle ten Have (NZL) lies in 33rd overall having scores of BFD (starting rule infringement), 25, 9 and 7. The series is led by Shahar Reshef (ISR) an under 21yr old sailor. The only other NZer in the fleet Brianna Orams lies 67th overall, with places in the high 20's, plus a BFD starting infringement.
For the official report and link to results click here