Slovakia Take The Win at the RS Feva European Championship 2024

July 1, 2024

After a week of intense and competitive racing in beautiful surroundings of Nida in Lithuanian, the new RS Feva European champions were revealed. Slovakian team, Jerguš Brestovký and Oliver Brestovský, won gold. Two Italian teams got the other two medals – Amerigo Bottura and Silvia Bunicci gained silver, Edoardo Bastini and Samuele Bardelli won bronze.

“It feels amazing. It was my goal, so now it feels really good. This last day of racing was biggest challenge for our team, because all week we had more lake-like conditions, but the last day the wind was stronger and the waves were really challenging”, – said the new champion Oliver Brestovský, after he finished the last race.

This Slovakian team dominated the RS Feva International Class championship from the beginning. On final results they had the advantage of almost ten points from the closest competitors. According to Oliver Brestovský, there were a few aspects that helped their team to compete that well:

“Firstly, the trim on the shore, you need to make sure that everything is in its place. Then you need to be attentive to the wind shifts on water. You also need to have a good coach, like mine, that gives you important information. And then you need to have a good start. Because the start is where everything starts, but it can also end right there too.”

Competition for the second and third places was extremely tough on the last day of racing. Positions changed on all four races, making the results incredibly tight, with the competition continuing ashore through protests. It was mainly three teams that were racing for the silver and bronze medals – two Italian teams (Amerigo Bottura and Silvia Bunicci, Edoardo Bastini and Samuele Bardelli) and one Estonian team (Anna Altrov and Rael Natali Ets).

Finally, silver was won by Amerigo Bottura and Silvia Bunicci, bronze – by Edoardo Bastini and Samuele Bardelli. All the teams were separated by just two points in final results.

“We had an amazing week of sailing. We managed to do races three out of four racing days and only one day we had less wind than we were hoping for. We had beautiful weather and great conditions for a championship. The organization authority did a great job and the whole event was a pleasure to work on. The competitors were really happy with what they saw on water and on shore”, – said Max Pawlowski, the Principal Race Officer in RS Feva Europeans.

Nida offered great sailing conditions that allowed to test their skills in very different conditions – from light winds and flat waters to much stronger winds and bigger waves.

“I am happy that we managed to do almost all the races that were planned. This means that sailors had a chance to find out who is best in this class at the moment. The feedback from the coaches and sailors is great, they really liked the sailing area and the conditions, also the beautiful nature here in Nida, Lithuania”, – said Marius Petraitis, the president of RS Sailing Lithuania.

The RS Feva European Championship took place in Nida, Lithuania, from 24th to 28th of June. Full results can be found here.

Results:

RS Feva European Champions – Overall, 2024: