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Match Cup Russia races started in St. Petersburg

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The races of the M32 stage of the International Match Racing Tour on Sailing Catamarans have started in St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Early leaders in the standings were athletes from New Zealand, France and Great Britain. The Russians have so far marked only one arrival in the top three.

The regatta fleet was divided into three groups of six competitors each with four races in each fleet. The early leaders have already been identified by the results of the races, and there are no surprises here. In the first group it is the reigning winner of the 2016 Tour, New Zealander Phil Robertson. In the second is multiple winner of previous seasons, Briton Ian Williams, and in the third is Frenchman Yann Guichard, who has both high seas racing and competition in a variety of catamaran classes under his belt.

As for the Russian crews the host team of Saint Petersburg Yacht Club - Gazprom Team Russia looks the most confident so far.

Among the Russians they have the most experience of competitions in the new class. The team has been competing in World Match Racing Tour since January.

Serezhkin's crew takes the fourth place in its group thanks to the arrival of the trio. It was not without surprises:

«In one of the races our sail got tangled, we couldn't free the gear for a long time and couldn't maneuver, - says crew helmsman Viktor Serezhkin, - further the situation developed like a snowball: we broke the course zone and were penalized. The result was the last race. But we immediately managed to pull ourselves together and finish the next race second».

Neufilnikov and Elfimov crews are still at the bottom of the group standings.

«Taking into account our lack of experience in this class of catamarans, we need to act carefully and strategically, - says Evgeny Elfimov, helmsman of M1Cloud from Moscow - for the next round of competitions, only 16 teams from 18 will pass, it means, we need to keep in the middle of the fleet tomorrow. With such opponents even this task is not as easy as it seems. Judge for yourself: in our group we have a winner of the Tour and two multiple Olympic competitors. They are Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma - European champion in Finn class and Austrian Nicol Dell Kart - four-times participant of the Games in 49er class!»

The fleet races within the framework of Match Cup Russia continue on August 2 at St. Petersburg Yacht Club. According to the results of this part of the competition 16 crews will be defined which will proceed to play-off races (first place versus 16th and so on) in match-race format. The decisive matches will be held on August 4-6 in the water area of the Neva near the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

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