Paula Barceló and Támara Echegoyen will defend their first european as olympic titles of the 49er

This Wednesday 8th of November, starts in Vilamoura waters, Portugal, the European Championship of the classes 49er and 49er FX with the presence of the olympic crew for Paris 2024: Diego Botín and Florian Trittel in 49er and Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló in 49er FX.

In 49er FX, the sailor of the Club Nàutic S’Arenal, Paula Barceló and her colleague Támara Echegoyen head for first place. In this case there will be nearly 60 boats in the deeparture line, with very strong teams, that have the goal to win the olympic spot for their country for each category.

Diego Botín and Florian Trittel arrive to the 49er fleet with a clear mindset: to bridge the gap between the bronze medal obtained at the last world championships and the gold medal. As their trainer tells us, Álvaro del Arco, “Since the World Championship at the Hague we have had time to analyze everything to get better, developing all the points that we believe can make a leap in performance.”

Within respect of the rest of the registered in the 49er, Del Arco continues to say: “We will find a fleet of 90 boats, where the TOP5 of the world championship will be there and we will face in Paris, and many new crews are training towards the new cycle. But our main enemy is going to be ourselves. With all of these parts that we have analyzed and have trained, it is the moment to see the results of the changes.”

For Álvaro del Arco, the objective is clear: “Win, and put all of the training into practice to bridge the gap between the bronze medal and the gold medal”.

The competition will start this Wednesday with the qualifying heats before moving on to the final heats on Saturday the 11th, which will decide the TOP10 that will compete in the Medal Races of each category on Monday the 13th.

The forecast provided by the Olympic Team's meteorologist, Riccardo Ravagnan, predicts light winds on the opening day, with more intense winds on Thursday 9th of November as a front approaches, with low, stratified cloud cover reducing visibility.