July 03-July 06 2010

Austrian 49er cracks hope for big points and a medal at the European Championship in Gdynia, Poland.

From Monday the 49er elite will race in Poland for the 2010 European crown. 90 teams from 28 nations entered the title contest off Gdynia. Medals will be decided in the medal race of the top 10 ranked teams on July 10.

The Marinepool Racing Team is represented by four teams. ISAF World Ranking leaders Nico Delle Karth and Niko Resch who won Bronze in last years event and have showed great form this season. Furthermore by the second Austrian Team of Zajac/Czajka, Germans Schadewaldt/Baumann and the strong French Dyen/Christidis.

The list of title contenders is longer than ever, Great Britain has entered 5 excellent teams, Italy´s Sibello brothers, European Champions 2009, will defend their title and France focuses on Marinepool sponsored Dyen/Christidis who have won two World Cups this season alone. Germans Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz and Morten Massmann and Danes Norregaard/Lang cannot be counted out either.

"We basically should not care about any of the others. We want a medal and know we need an excellent week for that", says Resch. The strongest competitors - according to him - will be Brits Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith who won the World Cup in France and took a break since. "Paul has immense experience and sails in a class of his own, especially in light wind". To counter this advantage the Nickos will most probably sail with a new main in Gdynia, they will decide on Saturday. "In terms of crew weight we are one of the heavier teams, which naturally is a handicap in light conditions. We hope to make up for that with the new sail". Regarding wind Delle Karth, who, together with his crew leads the World Cup rankings as well as the ISAF World Rankings, hopes for strong breeze: "If handling and experience become part of the game, the number of title contenders gets smaller. But we have to take it as it comes and only focus on the qualifying. We do not put pressure on ourselves!"

Austrians Zajac/Czajka see this similar and could already surprise with a number of great results this year, "whatever wind we will have, we are looking forward to this European Championship, think step by step and for the time being, have set the bar at the top 25 who qualify for the Gold fleet". That was a result they easily achieved at the recent World Cup in Kiel with a 12th and an 8th overall at the Hyeres World Cup in April.

The qualification races will be finished on Wednesday, from then the spots for the Medal Race (Saturday) will be decided in the Final Race.

49er Class Association

49er European Championship Website