RIO 2016: The road returns to Europe

Palma, Spain (April 6, 2013) – The 44th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mapfre – third event in the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit – delivered the ten Olympic events to Europe for the first prominent event of the 2016 quadrennial.

Despite it being early in the Olympic cycle, it is hard not to recognize how the perennial leading country – Britain – does not seem to have lost a step. With some new faces replacing the old, they garnered medals in six of the ten events. Other multiple medal winning countries were Denmark (5), Netherlands (4), Germany (3), New Zealand (3), and Australia (2). Overall, 13 countries stood on the podium.

The performance highlight for North America was Americans Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha, who went into the medal races for the Women’s 470 in 5th overall. With a possibility of earning a medal, they staked their claim early, winning the first of two races. They finished 7th in the next, which pulled them up to a bronze medal.

“We were more focused on improving race to race, rather than the overall results,” said Haeger. “We are happy to prove ourselves in the fleet and climb up the ranks in the next couple of regattas.”

Haeger and Provancha graduated last year from Boston College where they were members of the school’s sailing team. They credited that experience. “We knew we had a big college sailing benefit for us,” explained Provancha. “Shifty, puffy, which is pretty much what New England sailing is all about. We were really lucky to have a solid four years of that and it really helped us out.”

Watch the full video interview with Haeger and Provancha.

Also having a big day in the medal round was Canadian Isabella Bertold, who rolled a 1-2 to move up to 5th overall. In what had been an inconsistent week, Bertold was pleased to close strong. “It was great to put everything together that I’ve been working on these past few months,” said Bertold.

Next up for is ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres in Hyeres, France, April 20-27.

Results – Final event report – USA report – Photos

Background: The ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma (Apr 1-6) is the third of four events for the 2012-13 ISAF Sailing World Cup season. The season began in Melbourne, Australia (Dec 2-8) and was in Miami (Jan 28-Feb 2), with the final event in Hyeres, France (Apr 20-27). The ISAF Sailing World Cup is open to the sailing classes (equipment) chosen for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions.