Alexandros Kalpogiannakis
Alexandros Kalpogiannakis (GRE) and Giorgia Speciale (ITA) became the first sailors to take the title of 2018 Youth Olympic Champions at the Youth Olympic Sailing Competition, held out of Club Nautico San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The first Medal Races in Sailing were held in the Girl’s and Boy’s Windsurfing class, with both fleets completing 11 races in the series over the course of the competition.
A seventh-place finish in the Medal Race – his lowest fleet race score of the week – was enough for Kalpogiannakis to wrap up gold.
The Greek has performed consistently well throughout the competition, with five wins overall, and finished the final race far enough in front of nearest rival Nicolo Renna (ITA), whose 13th-placed finish was good for silver.
And the 16-year-old, who came second in the Youth Male category of the Techno 293+ World Championships in August, admitted that winning a medal was more than he originally hoped for.
“I’m very excited about winning gold – I didn’t expect it, but I’m happy to achieve it,” Kalpogiannakis said.
“The Youth Olympic Games have helped me learn to concentrate on every moment and to never give up.
“Next I have the Europeans in Greece, then I’ll take a holiday before training for next season.”
Finn Hawkins (GBR) finished third in the Medal Race to confirm his bronze medal; Tomer Vardimon (ISR) came second in the race but was too far behind points-wise to trouble the Brit.
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