The Hungarian was followed by Lithuania's Viktorija Andrulytė in second place and France's Louise Cervera in third.Continue reading
Mária Érdi, who is preparing for the Paris Olympics, won the ILCA 6 boat class race at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca – Trofeo Princesa Sofia.
Australian Zoe Thomson finished second, ahead of Britain’s Matilda Nicholls. The field also included the gold medalists from the last two Olympics, with Tokyo champion Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark (11th), and Rio winner Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands (18th).
This is one of the most prestigious sailing events.
It has been a long and tiring week. It started with strong winds and weakened towards the end. I managed to adapt to every situation as best I could,” Mária Érdi’s press team quoted her as saying.
In the ILCA 7 boat class, Jonatán Vadnai, also an Olympic qualifier, finished 25th.
The program for the World Cup competition, which started on Monday, followed the Olympic system, with the results of ten races and the medal race being used to determine the final standings.
In an interview with M1 news channel, the European champion revealed that being the first Hungarian to win the traditional World Cup in Mallorca in the ILCA 6 class was a “dream category” for her. “After the Olympics, the World and European Championships, this is a prestigious race that a sailor dreams of winning, and I had hoped earlier that one day I could win it too,” Érdi stressed.
She called winning this event a stepping stone on the road to the Olympics. As she added, racing in Mallorca was very different to what it will be like at the Olympics, as the much larger field required a completely different strategy compared to the Olympic games.
The wind is different in Mallorca than it will be in Marseille, the venue for the ten sailing events, she noted.
“In the last few months, I have proved to myself that no matter what the wind is like, I am at the front of the field. When the pressure is on, I can still do well,” she said. Érdi added that she and her coach know what they need to focus on to get the best out of her, and that in the remaining months they will work on strategy to get her as balanced as possible, because that is important in sailing. She also pointed out that it was essential not to take too many risks, and she knows from her experience over the years when to take risks and when not to.
Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Érdi Mári