The 470 World Championship Final Series begins

Two Japanese crews lead the provisional standings and the Spanish team formed by Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman is in seventh position, with direct access to the Gold Group of the Final Series that starts today in the Bay of Palma.

The 470 World Championship programme is progressing at a good pace. For the second consecutive day, the 61 boats from 26 countries seeking glory in the Bay of Palma were able to complete the scheduled programme despite the challenge presented by unstable wind conditions with intensities between 10 and 18 knots. All of them returned to the Club Nàutic s'Arenal with five partial results on their scoreboards and with the Qualifying Series resolved.

The defending champions, the Japanese Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka, were the ones who made the most of the day's menu. After scoring a third and a fourth, they moved up from fifth to second overall to move just one point behind their compatriots and rivals for an Olympic spot within the Japanese federation, leaders Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki (5+2 today). "We are now in our selection trials, and that's why I think we are performing so well," said Seki. "We enjoy the pressure, and that makes us sail faster. We have good boat speed and we are managing to find our way around the changing race course." Japan keeps three teams in the top five of the World Championship.

Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman, the only Spaniards in this World Championship, took to the water from provisional fourth place after an opening day in which they spoke of good feelings. The second day was more complicated for the double World Championship runners-up (2022 and 2023), who could only manage an eighth and an eleventh place, which moved them back three positions in the provisional rankings. They completed the Qualifying Series in seventh place overall, but tied on points with the fifth, sixth and eighth placed teams.

With the Qualifying Series completed, the 470 World Championship moves on today to the Final Series, which will decide the starting positions for Sunday's Medal Race. The fleet is now split into two groups based on current positions: the top 31 will compete in the Gold Group (which will decide the ten places in Sunday's Medal Race) and the remaining 30 in the Silver Group.

The 470 World Championship 2024 is organised, in addition to Club Nàutic S'Arenal, by the International 470 Class Association, the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and the Balearic Sailing Federation, with the support of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Consell Insular de Mallorca and the Ajuntament de Llucmajor.