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USA Takes Home Silver, Bronze at 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship
Portsmouth, R.I. (July 18, 2008) – After a week of racing in Arhus, Denmark, Americans in two classes brought home medals from the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. Luke Lawrence (Palm
City, Fla.), racing in the Laser Boys’ class, had solidified second place on the second-to-last day of the event. Without a possibility of moving up or down in the 45-boat Laser fleet, Lawrence did not have to sail the final race.
The regatta was won by Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, who defended his title from 2007. Coach Brett Davis said of the performance, “This is a great achievement as the fleet was quite strong this year with last year's winner from Cypress
repeating with another very commanding victory and also last summer's Radial Youth World Champion from Denmark currently in fourth place.” He continued, “Luke started very strongly nearly every race and demonstrated world class
tactics and downwind speed throughout the regatta. “ Lawrence was a member of the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship team, and finished 11th in last year’s event.
In the 29er Boys’ class, Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) and Hans Henken (Coronado, Calif.) put up a strong fight all week, ending up with bronze on the final day. Running in a close second place for most of the
event, Ryan and Henken incurred a disqualification yesterday, which kept them from attacking first place. Argentines German Billoch and Gaston Cheb Terrab sailed a stellar final day to pass up to second place, one point ahead of the
Americans. Ryan and Henken sailed impressively all week, with over half of their races in the top three of the 25-boat fleet. The 29er Boys’ class was won by James Peters and Edward Fitzgerald of Great Britain. Great Britain as a
country won two golds and a bronze in their four best-finishing classes, making them the winners of the prestigious Volvo Trophy for best overall country performance.
Racing against the forty Laser Radials in the Denmark event, Annie Haeger (Lake Forest, Ill.) finished in ninth place. The regatta was won by defending champions Gabrielle King of Australia and the point spread
among the top nine boats in the class was impressively tight. After Haeger, there was a 32-point gap to tenth place, showing that Haeger had earned her place with the top group.
In the 29er Girls’ class, Julia Paxton (Sebastopol, Calif.) and Karoline Gurdal (San Francisco, Calif.) finished tenth out of 18 boats. Also competing against the world-class competition at this event were
multihull sailors Andrew Mason (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Chris Segerblom (Costa Mesa, Calif.), and Cody Shevitz (Santa Barbara, Calif.) in the RS:X class.
Over 250 sailors from 60 countries competed in the championship, which took place July 11-18. The 2009 Volvo Youth Sailiing ISAF World Championship will take place July 9-18 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For results and news on the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, please visit http://www.youthworlds2008.org/Results.aspx
For more information about the US Youth World Team, please visit: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/YouthWorld/2008/team.asp
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of
sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration
and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.
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