The fight for FX qualification is at a boil heading into gold fleet racing. There are 10 nation spots plus a spot for France available at the 2023 World Championship, and 19 nations make up the top 25 teams that remain in the hunt as we head to gold fleet racing.
The top 11 are all unique nations, and the points remain very tight despite nine races having been completed. Bobeck and Netzler (SWE) continue to impress with another pair of wins today and a third place. Barring something unforeseen, they ought to be a lock to qualify as even their drop race is an 11th now.
Nobody else would feel safe, however. Five gold medalists and three silver medalists make up those slight in the fight.
In danger of missing out are Grael and Kunze, who often start slowly but rarely have so many double-digit scores. Kunze has been seen with a large knee brace over top of her wetsuit, so that may be impacting her performance.
The fleet heads to a scheduled day off to rest and recuperate from a very physically challenging start to the regatta. The waves have been unrelenting so far, and often the courses have been miles out to sea, forcing teams to commute about an hour each way, which adds six hours of sailing to the physical burden.
Keep in touch with all of the results, photos, and tracking via the worlds site.
Catch the 49er qualifying notes here.
