The Russian national team finished the Youth World Championship in the class «Laser» with a silver and a bronze medal. Both awards were won by girls: Valeria Lomatchenko andMaria Kislukhina. Among the young men the best result among the Russians was shown by . Daniel Krutskikh. He occupied the 17th place.
The competition was held from October 26 to November 2 in Split, Croatia. They were attended by 68 girls and 144 boys.
Despite the fact that the regatta was scheduled for almost a week, it proved to be a challenge to hold at least four races so that the championship could be considered valid. Day after day the start was postponed due to incredibly weak winds.
«In all my years of sailing I've never seen a regatta with no racing for two days in a row. When on the second day it was announced that there would be no wind for the whole regatta, I told everyone: it can't be! But the races were postponed», - says Valeria Lomatchenko.
The first race, for the boys, was held only on the third day. The girls took off after them, but the wind got worse and worse, and the athletes were not able to finish the race. The start turned out to be a kind of training, which allowed at least to explore the water area.
Even by the end of the fifth day, both girls and boys had only two races each.
«In a weak wind there is no opportunity to get out, everyone goes at the same speed, and no matter what you do, it is impossible to win back very much. When the results of the two races were posted, I didn't look at them. I was told that I was in third place and it really surprised me, because I had the 5th and 10th arrivals! So everything was very unstable: black flags, yellow flags... By the way, I also had one promotion, so I understood that I had no right to make a mistake», - Valeria Lomatchenko continues her story.
Maria Kislukhina finished these races at 14th and 6th place, and took the 5th place in the overall ranking. Daniil Krutskikhikhikhikh had 42nd and 20th places in the pile, which allowed him to take 53rd place.
The final sixth day was a real gift - three races were held at once in a good wind of 15-20 knots.
Valeria Lomatchenko won the second of them and Maria Kislukhina came in third in the third. Daniil Krutskikh's results this day noticeably improved. He steadily finished in the top ten in all three races.
After five races Argentine Juan Pablo Cardozo and Wiktoria Golebiowska (Poland) became new world champions. Cardozo also took first place in the under-19 category.
For the first time in the mens' top three there was not a single European. silver and bronze medals went to Chilean Clemente Seguel Lacamara and Indian Vishnu Sar avananan.
Russia is also represented by Ekaterina Bereza (47th ), Ekaterina Guseva (51st ), Nikita Melnikov (57th) and Ilya Vyunov (130th). Among yachtsmen under 19 Nikita Melnikov took 19th place, Ilya Vyunov came in 54th.
