Women’s
Elimination Two
The second elimination saw two upsets with Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) and Lena Erdil (Patrik / The Loft / AL360) both missing the winner’s final. The top two seeds; Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) and Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou / Gaastra / Mystic) both made the winner’s final.
Winner’s Final
Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde) made the best start but Jaggi soon showed her class with superior speed to everyone. Jaggi soon found herself in the lead, and with all of her experience she was never going to let anyone take it away from her. Arrighetti, who is Jaggi’s biggest rival, managed to pass Cousin to move into second position and this is where they both remained, in second and third respectively. Fourth was another French woman, Fanny Aubet (JP / NeilPryde) as the French dominate the top four.
Elimination Three
The third elimination again saw Arutkin miss out on the winner’s final, but Lena Erdil managed to recover from her poor start in the previous elimination to book her place in the winner’s final. The other sailor of note to miss out was Greta Benvenuti (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360).
Winner’s Final
Lena Erdil made a great start to the final as she timed her start to perfection. However after a great start, Erdil finished in a disappointing sixth place. Jaggi once again demonstrated her greater straight line speed as she came from third place to push Arrighetti all the way to the finish line. On this occasion the gap proved too big for the Swiss lady to close, as Arrighetti hit straight back to claim her second bullet of the contest. Following them in third was Cousin and Japan’s Fujiko Onishi completed the top four..
Elimination Four
As the women returned to the water after a two hour break, you could feel the tension on the beach as the battle between Jaggi and Arrighetti heated up. The result of this winner’s final had the potential to be a pivotal moment in the event.
Winner’s Final
The first blood went to Arrighetti as she was the first sailor over the line. Karin Jaggi hadn’t let her get out of sight though and the Swiss gem held second place. Behind them were Arutkin and Cousin. As the race progressed Arrighetti opened up a big lead and it looked as though she was going to stroll to victory. However the multi-talented and experienced Jaggi had not given up catching her rival, and as they headed down the last leg Jaggi started to gain on the Frenchwoman. Jaggi completed an unbelievable comeback to claim first position, Arrighetti, meanwhile, was devastated and left cursing her luck as she got sea grass caught around her fin. This cost her the chance to take a commanding lead at the top, and now there’s all to play for with Arrighetti and Jaggi being right behind each other. Alice Arutkin finished in an excellent third with Cousin in fourth.
