FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Derby Anderson
DerbyAnderson@USSAILING.ORG
401 683 0800 ext 671
443 822 6393 cell
USA Takes
Home Silver, Bronze at
2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship
Portsmouth, R.I. (July 18, 2008) – After a week of racing in Arhus,
Denmark, Americans in two classes brought home medals from the 2008 Volvo
Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. Luke Lawrence (Palm City, Fla.),
racing in the Laser Boys’ class, had solidified second place on the
second-to-last day of the event. Without a possibility of moving up or down
in the 45-boat Laser fleet, Lawrence did not have to sail the final race.
The regatta was won by Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, who defended his title
from 2007. Coach Brett Davis said of the performance, “This is a great
achievement as the fleet was quite strong this year with last year's winner
from Cypress repeating with another very commanding victory and also last
summer's Radial Youth World Champion from Denmark currently in fourth
place.” He continued, “Luke started very strongly nearly every race and
demonstrated world class tactics and downwind speed throughout the regatta.
“ Lawrence was a member of the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World
Championship team, and finished 11th in last year’s event.
In the 29er Boys’ class, Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) and Hans Henken
(Coronado, Calif.) put up a strong fight all week, ending up with bronze on
the final day. Running in a close second place for most of the event, Ryan
and Henken incurred a disqualification yesterday, which kept them from
attacking first place. Argentines German Billoch and Gaston Cheb Terrab
sailed a stellar final day to pass up to second place, one point ahead of
the Americans. Ryan and Henken sailed impressively all week, with over half
of their races in the top three of the 25-boat fleet. The 29er Boys’ class
was won by James Peters and Edward Fitzgerald of Great Britain. Great
Britain as a country won two golds and a bronze in their four best-finishing
classes, making them the winners of the prestigious Volvo Trophy for best
overall country performance.
Racing against the forty Laser Radials in the Denmark event, Annie Haeger
(Lake Forest, Ill.) finished in ninth place. The regatta was won by
defending champions Gabrielle King of Australia and the point spread among
the top nine boats in the class was impressively tight. After Haeger, there
was a 32-point gap to tenth place, showing that Haeger had earned her place
with the top group.
In the 29er Girls’ class, Julia Paxton (Sebastopol, Calif.) and Karoline
Gurdal (San Francisco, Calif.) finished tenth out of 18 boats. Also
competing against the world-class competition at this event were multihull
sailors Andrew Mason (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Chris Segerblom (Costa
Mesa, Calif.), and Cody Shevitz (Santa Barbara, Calif.) in the RS:X class.
Over 250 sailors from 60 countries competed in the championship, which took
place July 11-18. The 2009 Volvo Youth Sailiing ISAF World Championship will
take place July 9-18 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For results and news on the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World
Championship, please visit
http://www.youthworlds2008.org/Results.aspx.
For more information about the US Youth World Team, please visit:
http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/YouthWorld/2008/team.asp.
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing
body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode
Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the
U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and
race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and
communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides
administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country,
including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing
Teams. For more information, please visit
www.ussailing.org.
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