After a weekend of intense competition in various wind conditions, the 2023 Junior European Championships in DN & IceOptimist concluded today on Lake Rekyvos, Lithuania.
In DN Class Rasmus Maalinn C20 dominated the scoring board and secured the title of Junior European Champion 2023. This was crucial for Rasmus as he ages out this year from the Juniors (U24) and wanted to finish his years in youth icesailing competitions with a bang.
This is what he thought before the event:
“… Everybody thought (including me) that my Junior career is over, then life always offers you surprises (and your responsibility is to take them), since our Europeans was postponed last season, the race was called on this december, which gave me a chance to fight one last time in the Juniors where it all started. In 2015, I was at my first Junior Championship in Šialiuai and now I have a chance to finish my Junior career at the same place. After 4hours of sleep yesterday and 450km with the car, we managed to get in 50km of sailing today, and we will be able to fight for the championship. Tomorrow and the day after that will be crucial in deciding if my fairytail-like Junior career will find a fairytail ending or not. I will give everything I got to bring it home!”
Mateusz Gigielewicz P89 ensured the silver medal while Jakub Kaminski P280 won bronze.
The Top Scoring Girl DN Sailors were Laura Banach P102, Lisbeth Taggu C50, & Weronika Martynowska P379.
In IceOptimist Aron Poolma C1 won the gold medal and became the IceOptimist European Champion in 2023.
Remo Maripuu C191 won silver, while Miia Kubjas C29 won bronze.
The Top Scoring Girl IceOpti sailors were Miia Kubjas C29, Laura Marii Taggu C56, & Anii Kubjas C28.
Congrats to all & Thank you for participating in this challenging event!
Photos and Videos of the event by DN Lithuania | Rola Lora | Irutė Žičkuvienė | Rasmus Maalinn:
more media & info: facebook.com/idniyraeurope | idniyra.eu/jwc2023
Results: