Nacho Baltasar climbs up the rankings in the French Olympic Week

The last day of the French Olympic Week was once again marked by complicated weather conditions, which Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita sailor Nacho Baltasar was able to handle well to improve and climb to sixth place in the Men's iQFOiL.

The wind was more or less punctual in the waters of Hyères, but the arrival of some showers in the early afternoon caused a sharp shift (change of direction) that forced the day to be interrupted. All disciplines competed, although in many cases it was not possible to complete all the scheduled races. 

In iQFOiL Men, Balearic sailor Nacho Baltasar was one of the best of the day. His 5-3-2 results saw him climb six places on the leaderboard to sixth place in a classification headed by Australian G. Morris. Club Nàutic S'Arenal sailor Bernat Tomás is fourteenth, whilst Alicante's Jorge Aranzueque remained sixteenth. 

‘With the winds we had today, of between 15 and 20 knots, I felt very comfortable,’ said Nacho Baltasar. I felt quite fast and the board was happy. Tomorrow is the last day before the Medal, so we are going to push as hard as possible and I hope to be able to give good news as well’. 

Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman, reigning world champions, added a satisfactory second day of testing in the waters of Hyères. The Catalan duo of 470 Mixed signed a second and a sixth and maintains the fourth place in the provisional overall, tied on points with the third, the British M. Wrigley and B. Harris. Harris. The Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita sailors, Neus Ballester and Alejandro de Maqua, meanwhile, are in 25th place. 

In 49er, Diego Botín and Florian Trittel finished tenth and fourth in the two legs of the day, which were sailed on the furthest race course from land, with winds of up to 19 knots and a rather complicated wave. The fleet started a third leg, but it had to be cancelled on the last leg due to a 180º shift, when the Spanish tandem was in third place. With these two partial results, the defending French Olympic Week champions climbed four steps up the table to sixth place, eight points off the podium. 

In Women's Formula Kite, multiple freestyle world champion Gisela Pulido posted a score of 11-13-5-6 in winds of between 10 and 14 knots. After yesterday's blank day for this discipline, the young Catalan managed to maintain the seventh place in the provisional overall, with one day left to close the Top10 that will compete in the Medal Series on Thursday. 

In Formula Kite Men, the Catalan Bernat Cortés started the day very solid, with a second and a third in the first two sections. In the next leg, he also had a brilliant start and completed the first section in the top five and fighting for third place, but a problem at the turnpoint made him lose many positions; he managed to recover something during the rest of the course, but he had to settle for a 22nd place at the finish line. Even so, the balance of the day was very positive because he managed to place ninth and get into the Top10, which is the goal for the Medal Series. 

This Wednesday, April 24th, is the penultimate day of competition of the French Olympic Week for the Formula Kite and iQFOiL, both in the men's and women's categories. The races will be used to decide the Top 10 that will go through to the Medal Series in each discipline, scheduled for Thursday, with Friday as a reserve day. The rest of the classes will continue their qualifying series tomorrow.