1st WORLD UNIVERSITY MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Quiberon, France - June 30th tot July 6th, 2002
Sailing has been on the sports programme of our championships for quite some time now, but this was the first time Match Racing was organized. This very technical team sport tries to replicate a miniature "America Cup", which means that at all times, two boats are facing each other on a course sailed twice. The finesse of the regulations make for a race full of suspense. Haliguen port, in the protected Quiberon bay was where the competition was organized. This is one of the loveliest stretches of water in Europe and it has the advantage of offering very good visibility to spectators, which is not always the case in this kind of competition.
For this first championship, a parade with all the delegations marched through the town of Quiberon. Participants and spectators attended a lovely opening ceremony with official presentations. The evening gave the athletes an opportunity to meet each other and find points in common, both in their student lives and in the preparation and management of competition.
Cool Wind
The regatta began in very good spirits with weather conditions offering wind between 15 and 20 knots under a cloudy sky. Thirty-six matches took place the first day, provisionally putting Great Britain, Russia and France 1 at the head of the competition.
"After getting a feel for the boats and discovering the water in the first part of the day, the competitors fell into two groups: the world's best ranking teams showed their superiority by winning their matches. The English team under Paul James Campbell and the French team led by Yoann Jehanno were unbeaten, and the Russian team with skipper Eugeniy Neougonikov lost only once to the English in a very tight match. The third German team, France II and Italy I still had a good chance. The second group had some trouble with the tough conditions in the afternoon", declared Roland Galliot, President of the FISU Technical Committee, as he came into port. Conditions got rougher in the second day of the race. The contestants vied with each other in a high sea, with a wind of 30 to 35 knots, which gave the heavier teams an advantage. The Russians and the English took advantage of the conditions to bring in points. The temporary rating (at the end of the first round-robin) gave them a slight advantage over their main opponents, the French and the Germans. For France I, skipper Yoann Jehanno with his team (Marie Vouillot, Manu Valasquez, Jason Nivoliez and Jean-Marie Bocquel): "Our objective was to finish the first phase among the top four -- this was still what we were after, and we hoped that the wind would die down towards the end of the week, because under those conditions the English and the Russians (who weigh 50 kilos more) are within our reach. As for the atmosphere, we can't complain. The teams have hit it off well, and sailing is not our opponents' only interest".
Domination
At the end of the "round-robins", and just before the semifinals and the finals, two things were clear: the Russian, English, France I and Italy I boats easily lead the first phase of the race. Just behind them, teams France II, Germany I, Germany II shared the honours. For the second Italian team, the Polish team and the Slovenian team, the level required to vie with the best, or in any case, the first two teams, was too much to be expected for one of their first attempts (if not the very first) at match racing.
After the round-robins came the drawings; the breakdown of the teams in the various semifinals was a good reflection of the lay-out of the matches. The four teams that could complete for the title of World University Champion in match racing were: (in order of general points) the British team led by Paul Campbell James*, the Russian team led by Eugenyi Neougonikov, France I under Yoann Jenanno and Germany II with Tino Ellgast at the helm. Since the English drew Germany, France had to compete with the formidable Russian crew. For the second group, Germany I, Italy I, France II and the Polish team shared places from 5 to 8. The ninth and tenth places went to Italy II and Slovenia.
The finals started on a calm sea with a wind of about 10 knots. Great Britain qualified easily over the second German team (3 to 0) and the Russian team qualified with a score of three to two over the French crew from the University of Southern Brittany, sailing in their home waters. In the semifinals for Group B, Germany I and Italy II qualified easily with an implacable 3 - 0. The first World University Championship title in Match Racing would be played off between the British and the Russian teams. Paul Campbell James' crew was the favourite, but the student team from all corners of Russia was still very dangerous, particularly in strong winds.
World Champions
The team from Great Britain was crowned world champion without losing a single round in the final with the Russians. In all, the team only lost one, when they had already qualified, as a result of technical problem in the first round-robin. The British really had it all, and dominated the race. The final placing was Russia in second place under Eugeniy Neougonikov, France I with skipper Yoann Jehanno finished third after a tough match against Germany II led by Tino Ellegas. The fifth team was Italy I under captain Luca Antonini, in sixth place, Germany I (Sven Erik Horsch). The second and eighth places were run off between Poland and France II and finally the team led by Maxime Fages took the day. Italy II and Slovenia came in ninth and tenth.
Is this the only thing to be retained about this first World University Championship in Match Racing? Absolutely not! When you put the question to the crews at Port Haliguen, here is the answer you get: "True, we did lose, but what an atmosphere in all the teams! We learned a lot!" says Marko Rojelj, member of the Slovenian team. "For us, the main objective was to make the group of the first four, and to enjoy ourselves. And we did both", declared the France I crew leader. "All the athletes here share the same passion, it makes sense that we would get along, and we sure did", for the team Germany II. So it's easy to understand that, despite a few disappointments, particularly for the French (both teams were eliminated in the semifinals and won third and seventh places), everyone agrees that this was a great championship. The next championship games will take place in Italy in Rimini, on the Adriatic. We are willing to bet that after this success, the number of participants in the second World University Match Racing Championship will be a lot higher.
FINAL RANKING
1. GREAT BRITAIN 2. RUSSIA 3. FRANCE (1) 4. GERMANY (2) 5. ITALY (1) 6. GERMANY (1) 7. FRANCE (2) 8. POLAND 9. ITALY (2) 10 SLOVENIA
