Sinem Kurtbay and Akseli Keskinen won the European Championship silver in the Nacra 17 class at the European Championships held in Denmark.
10.7.•Updated 10.7.
Finnish Olympic visitors Sinem Kurtbay and Central axis achieved silver in the Nacra 17 class at the European Championships sailed in Danish waters. Kurtbay and Keskinen had a few bad starts at the beginning of the week, but they got better as the race progressed and won the medals in the medal start on the final day, Sunday.
– This feels damn good, that’s all I can say. An incredible race, the first couple of days were a bit difficult, but we gradually improved day by day with steady sailing, Keskinen said in the press release.
There were enough problems on the final day as well, but the duo secured Finland’s first prize competition medal since 2016.
– It was a pretty bad start in the medal start, we argued with Sinem for a few seconds about it, but we got good pressure from the right side of the track and got back to the top, Keskinen said.
According to Kurtbay, the boat crew changed their approach after the initial difficulties and then found their confidence.
– We focused more on our own race without caring about what others were doing. We did the same today and it worked fine. We will go to the World Cup with the same attitude. I’m really satisfied with what we’re doing and we’re improving day by day, Kurtbay promised.
Italian Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won gold Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei bronze.