Tita and Banti keep charging
Three bullets to start the 2023 World Championship for Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (ITA 26) sees the pair start this worlds in the same dominant form they won the last worlds with. The defending gold medalists were the last team to launch this morning, cool and calm as ever, and then went out to do their business.
The pair were not the Italian representatives at the Test Event last month, so perhaps the only thing they have left to prove is the Italian place in Paris 2024. While it’s only day 1, the marker they dropped is no accident. The three other Italian teams are each in the top 20 so far.
Kohlhoff and Stuhlemmer (GER) picked up a pair of wins today and a 7th place. They added a ‘bonus’ point for not having their paperwork done in time three days ago, as did 10% of the fleet, but sit in second overall.
World Sailing love to factor into the scoreboard, so we’ll see the STP indication over all classes, but at least they dropped the penalties to a single point compared to a 50% of fleet penalty like it was at the Test Event.
Rounding out the top three are Gimson and Burnet (GBR), making the lead three here in 2023 to be the same three boats from the podium in Tokyo 2020.
A trio of Scandinavians follows, with Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland all starting well.
This is a developing story, meaning we will continue to add content as it becomes available.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Martin Pakula – 2020 Sailing World Championships, Geelong
