470 European Championship at Yacht Club de Cannes - Day 5

470 Europeans at Cannes Day 5 © Nikos Alevromytis / International 470 Class

As the 77th edition of the Film Festival looms from 14 to 25 May, the 470 European Championship ends in Cannes this Sunday with the Medal Race, a final round reserved for the top ten in the general classification, contested in front of the Yacht Club de Cannes, and whose points count double.

A few weeks before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, whose sailing events will take place in Marseille at the beginning of August, the international elite of the 470 has been scrapping for five days in typically Mediterranean weather, under the influence of anticyclonic conditions.

This Saturday, before three more hotly contested races on a tactical race zone, Thierry Péponnet, a member of the Yacht Club de Cannes, and former Olympic champion in the 470 with Luc Pillot in Seoul in 1988, symbolically handed over the yellow, red and blue bibs of the three leaders: the Spaniards Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman, reigning world champions, the French selections Camille Lecointre and Jérémie Mion, winners in Palma and Hyères, or the Britons Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris.

Aboard the Sport 900 semi-rigid boat made available for the season by Highfield, official partner of the Yacht Club de Cannes, Jean-François Cutugno is in the oven and in the mill. Former 470 champion, the president is over the moon: "I am very happy with this European Championship, and proud that the international class has entrusted us with its organisation a few weeks before the Olympics, in addition to seeing the fifty crews so satisfied. In the club's premises, which were completely refurbished this winter, the team pulled out all the stops, welcoming the riders as they should. The great atmosphere is affected."

"Tomorrow, Sunday at 2 p.m., we invite you to join us on the terrace of the club, to follow the Medal Race live in the turquoise waters separating the Pointe Croisette from the Lérins Islands. It will undoubtedly be the most beautiful regatta of the year! The president adds radiantly, not without humour.

This Saturday, the Spanish favourites Xammar-Brugman keep the lead ahead of the Frenchmen Lecointre and Mion, the Portuguese Costo and Joao impressive this Saturday, and the Englishmen Wrigley and Harris.

Finally, it is worth noting the remarkable fifth place of the young members of the Cannes Yacht Club, Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes. At less than 23 years old, the three-time junior world champions in the 470 class, sparing partners of the French Olympic selections, are only five points off the podium before the Medal Race held in their "backyard"

Full results can be found here.