Techno293 European Championships - Down to the wire!
The Techno293 Class has been here in beautiful Tallinn, Estonia, for a fantastic and very busy week of action at the 2021 European Championships, in what is very much the home of tech, and of Techno293. 230 young windsurfers from 21 countries made their way here for the 2021 European Championships, which for the first time included a division for the even younger sailors who couldn’t wait to get involved, an Under 13 fleet with boys and girls racing together.
We’ve had all kinds of conditions here this week, not surprising given the location, and it has been a real test of the competitors’ abilities and energy, also of the Race Committee who have managed to organise and encourage all the fleets out to complete a full week’s programme of 15 races for most despite losing a whole day to the weather. Big up to the whole organising team here in Tallinn, and thanks for the welcome that has been as warm as the weather has been varied. We’ll be back.
It’s not all about medals, it’s about being together, on and off the water, meeting people and sharing an experience, and there’s none better than the Techno 293 experience judging by the stats. Well-done to everyone who came and here is the roll of honour, the podiums for the 2021 European Techno Champions.
- U13: 1st, start to finish leader, Italy’s Pierluigi Caproni, behind him and surging into 2nd Russia’s Aleksandr Fokin, followed by Latvia’s Viljams Preiss, 3rd.
- U15 Girls: 1st, another start-to-finish winner, Poland’s Maria Rudowicz. Another strong-finishing 2nd place, this time Russian rider Uliana Vonogova who finished ahead of Spain’s Azul Sanchez-Vallejo in 3rd
- U15 Boys: Another late surge in the last 2 days saw Turkey’s Artun Senol jump into top spot by 3 points, ahead of Israel’s Peleg Rajuan, with long-time leader, Italy’s Tiberio Riccini dropping to 3rd.
- U17 Girls: The overnight top 3 all had a bad final day, but Czech Republic rider Kristyna Chalupnikova hung on to take the honours, 2 points ahead of Russia’s Polina Ovchinnikova, with Turkey’s Naz Ennis racing up to take the 3rd place with a great late run.
- U17 Boys: It was total domination by Italy’s Federico Pilloni, who swept to 1st place in front of Greek rider Petros Kontarinis, 2nd. Billy-James Coll-Tulloch, Spain, just hung on to his 3rd place.
- Plus Women: Turkey’s Merve Vatan was steady as a rock all week, taking 1st place, beating Russia’s Daria Bannaya into 2nd with Greece’s Marina Cherouveim grabbing 3rd by a single point.
- Plus Men: From the first race there was only ever one winner, experienced Italian Davide Antognoli. He finished well ahead of his compatriot, Alessandro Graciotti in 2nd. Big up to Britain’s Boris Shaw who battled through a bad start to his week to claim 3rd place.
Full results, photo galleries, interviews etc. are all available at: https://europeans2021.techno293.org
Techno293 European Championships - here we go!
Perfect racing on the Baltic today in frisky conditions, but super warm local welcome.
The steady wind enabled the Race Committee to launch all the divisions for 3 rounds of opening day racing, with another 12 rounds planned for all the next 4 days.
We’ve had some great energy coming from the competitors and a super friendly welcome from the local windsurfers onsite. Especially nice to see is the fleet of U13s, who wanted to get involved in the class too. For them this year, for the first time, we will have an Under 13s European Champion, and it could be a boy or a girl, unlike the other fleets they are all competing together.
It's early days in the overall rankings, plenty can and certainly will change before Saturday afternoon. But already it’s good to see no less than 7 different nations occupying podium positions, some with more positions than others!
In the U13 division, of the 25 entrants the top 3 consists of 2 Italians, Mathias Bortolotti and Pierluigi Caproni, followed by Latvia’s Viljams Preiss. The top placed girl is next in the rankings, 4th placed Mariia Tinyakova from Russia.
U15 Girls is currently a Poland 1-2-3, Maria Rudowicz, Maja Pomierska and Sonia Maliszewska. The other 33 entrants are now playing catch-up.
42 U15 Boys started the races today, and at the end of 3 rounds it’s another Italian success story with Tiberio Riccini leading, from Israel’s Itamar Levi and Russian rapido Dmitrii Nestorenko. All the same, there are just 2 points separating 2nd from 5th. For now.
The U17 Girls fleet, 36 of them, are currently being headed by Poland’s Nadia Kulik, chased by Russian rider Ovchinnikova Polina and Spain’s Barbara Winau-Ordinas.
More joy for Spain in the U17 Boys contest, where Billy-James Coll-Tulloch is occupying 3rd spot, behind Italy’s Fedrico Pilloni and Greece’s Petros Kontarinis, 1st and 2nd respectively, in a fleet of 42.
Great news from the Techno Plus division, with nearly 50 riders spread over the 2 fleets. For now, in the Men’s fleet, more good news for Italy, with Daivide Antognoli and Alessandro Gracciotti currently 1-3, and Greek rider Meletios Kalpogiannakis in 2nd. The women’s fleet day 1 leader is Turkey’s Merve Vatan, she’s followed by Russia’s Daria Bannaya, Greece’s Emilia Kosta.
Phew! It’s been a great first day, and 4 more to come! The forecast for tomorrow is challenging with strong offshore wind, so keep yourself up to date with all the action as it happens, results, news, updates, videos, photos… You know where to look, you’re already there!
Full results, photo galleries, interviews etc. are all available at: https://europeans2021.techno293.org