Italian optimism
Italy has once again won the 2021 Optimist World Championship’s Team Race World Championship.
08 July 2021
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The Italian flag has once again flown high over Riva del Garda, celebrating the country’s victory in this year’s Team Racing Optimist World Championship, defeating the competition favourite Thai team 2–0.
The victory came after two days of racing which included 48 nations competing in more than one hundred races.
The announcement of the Italian team’s victory, which features Quan Adriano Cardi, Alessandro Cirinei, Alex Demurtas, Lorenzo Ghirotti and Lisa Vucetti, signals the second world title in a row for the side.
In third place for the bronze medal was Portugal who eliminated Team USA in the previous round.
“What a great satisfaction to put the seal on this World Championship event: the guys never gave up, even in the most clear moments of difficulty,” said Italy coach Marcello Meringolo.
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“Bringing the title back home after the victory in Antigua in 2019 it is an even greater satisfaction. There could not have been a better way to honour the memory of Norberto Foletti, who recently left us and would have been so proud of this victory.”
Walter Cavallucci, new Secretary-General of the Italian Optimist Class Association, reiterated the value of teamwork in the victory, “Great sporting result for our team, but what I want to highlight is also the human part of this victory: the Team Race is a discipline in which each team member must know how to put the interest of the group ahead of their own result.”
“While other international teams train all year with the same composition for Team Racing, we have built the team starting from the five guys that had been selected for the individual World Championship. They were very good at finding their synergy in such a short time and bringing home such an important result.”
The victory concludes the team racing in the 2021 Optimist World Championship, which will resume with the individual competition, concluding 9 July. At the time of writing, US sailor Gil Hackel is currently is leading the fleet.
The 2021 Optimist World Championship is hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva in collaboration with FIV, IODA, AICO, Riva del Garda Fierecongressi, North Lake Garda and Trentino.
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