Kaklamanakis slips a little but maintains overall lead
The Greek sailing pair of Sophia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa are leading the pack in the women’s 470 class, as is windsurfer Nikos Kaklamanakis in the men’s Mistral class, at the first test event for the Athens 2004 Olympics in Aghios Cosmas, southern Athens. Over 350 vessels and close to 600 crew members representing 42 countries are taking part in 10 of the 11 Olympic sailing categories. The test event’s Star class was canceled as top representatives have been drawn to Los Angeles for its coinciding World Championships. Bekatorou and Tsoulfa increased their lead in the women’s 470 class after winning yesterday’s seventh race, their fourth in total and third in succession. The Greek pair’s dominance in the 470 event has made waves. Yesterday, immediately following their latest win, Bekatorou and Tsoulfa were interviewed for a CNN feature during which they discussed their careers, collaboration, ambitions and the upcoming Athens Olympics. Kaklamanakis, a gold medal winner at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, is leading the Men’s Mistral division, but the gap separating him from second-placed Jon-Paul Tobin of New Zealand has narrowed. Kaklamanakis ended ninth and eighth in the seventh and eighth rounds respectively, and has accumulated 22 penalty points. His Kiwi rival, who won the eighth heat, has 33 penalty points. At the end of yesterday’s session, Kaklamanakis admitted that water had leaked into his board. He said it would be replaced for the next round. Though disqualified from yesterday’s eighth race in the men’s 470 class for jumping the start, the Greek pair of Andreas Kosmatopoulos and Costas Trigonis maintained third place and are followed by two other Greek crews. Earlier in the day, Kosmatopoulos and Trigonis had ended fourth in the seventh race. «This development has made things more difficult for us and we’re going to need to be particularly careful in the remaining three races,» the disqualified pair noted yesterday. «The class’s top athletes are competing here and the routes meet all the requirements needed to host the Olympic Games,» they added. Ben Ainslie, the Finn class’s current world and European champion, is continuing his domination at the Athens test event. He is in first place after five rounds. Competition is intense in the Tornado class, with just one point separating the leading Austrian pair of Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher from the French duo of Olivier Backes and Laurent Voiron. They have compiled 13 and 14 penalty points, respectively, after six rounds. The Greek pair of Iordanis Paschalidis and Christos Garefis are placed sixth on 40 penalty points. «We’re very satisfied with our performance. We took risks in [yesterday’s] sixth race by changing tactics but didn’t pull off what we had planned,» the pair, who ended 20th in yesterday’s race, noted. «We’ve been working in this category since 1998. We didn’t qualify for the Sydney Olympics, but our objective for Athens 2004 is to place among the top eight.»
