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Optimists, your way out!
A little more than a week is left until the start of the international Optimist class regatta OptiOrange Valencia, which is jointly organized by the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg and the Real Club Nautico de Valencia.
In the third season, which will be held March 5-8, the regatta will update its own record for the number of participants – almost 400 athletes from 30 countries submitted preliminary applications. And the quantity is not inferior to the quality of the fleet.
As before, the largest fleets represent the host countries – Spain and Russia. The Spanish Armada will feature the country's vice-champions Nora Garcia de la Casa (El Masnou) and Suzanne Bestart (u13, Palma), one of the leaders of the national rating of the Optimist Excellence Cup 2018/2020 Isan Torrejon (San Feliu de Gichols), the winner of the 2018/2019 rating Miguel Campos (Alicante), athletes from the top 10 national championships Carlos Espy (Valencia) and Eduardo Reyes (Denia). “Forge of Champions” – CN Arenal Club – this season will compete only in the “junior” division, where it claims to be a medal.
The vast Russian fleet is represented by different regions. Students from the Academy of Sailing, the Rautu team and the Experimental group of the Optimist class association are speaking from St. Petersburg. Among them are winners of the Russian championship, Petersburgers Kirill Shunenkov, Andrei Sotnikov, Nikita Chernykh, Marina Babkina and Varvara Yuryeva (Gelendzhik).
A special participant in OptiOrange Valencia 2020 will be the athlete who won the competition from the Optimist Class Association, held from October 2019 until the end of January 2020. As part of the competition, young yachtsmen from all over Russia sent stories about how they came to sailing, about their waters, coaches, and the most memorable regattas. They told why they want to get to Valencia at the OptiOrange regatta. The winner was the athlete from Kaliningrad Egor Sidelnikov, who will join the Russian team in Valencia.
The best representatives of national teams will enter the competition with Russian athletes. The champions of the country Santiago Sesto Cosby and Emma Breeze will represent Great Britain together with the leader of the rating Robert Moodsley. The Irish team will be led by Rocco Wright, silver medalist in the top 10 European Championships and silver medalist in the recent Torrevieja regatta, and national champion Jessica Riordan. From the Netherlands, the leaders of the national rating will be Floris Shrafford and Thomas Schauten. Belgium will be represented by the leader of the rating, titled Boris de Wilde. The athlete from Bermuda Magnus Ringsted last year was the 12th in the open championship of North America.
For the first time, France will take part in the regatta. The leaders of this team are the Shino sisters: Alesi was 11th in Palamos, and Ocean was vice-champion of Championat International d été en France.
Compared to last year, the Swiss team doubled. Here the favorites are the country's champions Boris Hirsch, Victory Edlinsk and Morgan Mazay (u13). Hungary will be represented by one of the leaders of the fleet, Shomo Kish; Serbia is the winner of the national championship Pavle Dabić. Further, Eastern Europe will be represented by athletes from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Ukraine.
Scandinavia and the Baltic have significantly expanded their participation. Favorite from the Swedes Leo Birgerssson was 13th at the European Championship and has already been noted in the Spanish off-season regattas. Estonia will be represented by champion Mia Lilienthal. For the first time, Finland is participating in several clubs at once, as part of a team whose leader in the ranking of younger girls is Lily-Sophie Latvala. Also, for the first time, Denmark will participate, and the Polish team has significantly expanded the composition.
Interesting athletes represent Greece and Cyprus. These are the winners of the Optimist Mediterranean Championship Emilios Boeros and Andriani George (Cyprus). A strong athlete Alexandros Ioanidis will perform from the metropolis.
There are also participants from the USA, Canada, Germany and Portugal.
It is important that in the coaching staff there are also very eminent specialists. These are coaches of world champions Italian Simone Ricci, who will bring several of his pupils, and the coach of the Swiss Anthony Drozopoulos.
“We are pleased that the regatta is attracting more and more participants from all over the world, but the main thing is that the fleet is replenished with titled athletes, and this will ensure progress for Russian athletes,” says Vladimir Lyubomirov, commander of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. “Good practice for everyone, including domestic athletes – this was the main goal of the appearance of the OptiOrange Valencia regatta in 2018!”
In fact, OptiOrange Valencia is more than just four days of competition. Already at the end of February, a number of national teams began working in Valencia with the best coaches on the planet. Among them is the Experimental group of the Optimist class Association, with which Simone Ricci and the trainers of 8 Days a Week will work.
In addition to competitions, OptiOrange Valencia will be full of fun activities for young athletes. Every day after the races, in addition to treating them to delicious paella and fresh orange juice, the guys will take part in various activities of the OptiOrange Fiesta sailing festival with a prize draw, animators and a peppy music program.
In 2020, Volvo, Volvo's regional representative, Vedat Valencia, became OptiOrange Valencia's general partner. Also, the regatta is supported by North Sails, Winner Optimist, Garmin, Blue Blue, Sailing Cuack.
Alexey Zhirov,
PR Director Yacht Club of St. Petersburg
82 Today # 9945
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