JERUSALEM, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — The opening ceremony of the 470 World Sailing Championship was held in the Israeli village of Sdot Yam on Sunday evening, in the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The 2022 championships include only mixed pairs for the first time, without the separate men’s and women’s competitions that have been held so far.
This against the background of the transition from separate teams to mixed teams in Olympic competitions, starting at the Paris Games in 2024.
The championship in Israel includes 60 mixed pairs from 20 countries and regions. The competitions start on Monday and end on Saturday with the medal competition.
The competition’s leading sailor is Great Britain’s Olympic champion Eilidh McIntyre, who won the women’s gold in Tokyo alongside Hannah Mills. After the move to mixed teams, she now competes with Martin Wrigley.
Another senior competitor is the Swede Anton Dahlberg, who won the men’s silver medal in Tokyo and gold in the WC 2021 in Portugal, both with Fredrik Bergström.
In the ongoing mixed championship, Dahlberg will collaborate with Lovisa Karlsson. The new Swedish mixed pair already won the EC title in Turkey last month.
Spain’s reigning world champion Silvia Mas, who won the gold last year with Patricia Cantero, will compete in the ongoing mixed championship with Nicolas Rodriguez.
China has three pairs in the tournament: Xu Ming and Lyu Yixiao, Dong Wenju and Xu Yani, and Xu Jianyong and Tu Yahan.
Source: sn.dk