Stable at the top of the world
Shelgi and Bilik (silver medal) in a cruise in which they lead the Americans (gold medal) in a close battle. Photography - the competition website
Ido Bilik and Ofek Shelgi, from the "Haifa Sailing" club, continue to lead at the top of the world sailing in the 420 model and win the silver medal in the world championship that will end tomorrow in Auckland, New Zealand.
Although the competition ends tomorrow, when the ninth and last cruise ends, the competition was actually decided already today, Monday, 19/12/2016, with the end of the eighth cruise. Therefore, from the point of view of the Haifa team and the American team, the ninth cruise, which will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, 20/12/016, will be "for protocol" only.
The contest is over
Bilik and Sheligi with their coach Ben Eshel at the closing ceremony. To date, there have been 8 cruises as part of the World Championship. The cruises took place in all wind strengths, that is, from weak to strong wind at a speed of 20~25 knots.
Tomorrow, as mentioned, the ninth and last cruise will take place
Ido Bilik and Ofek Shelgi at the competition site in New Zealand. Photo - Ben Eslav In first place with 15 points (negative) are currently ranked a pair of Americans, 18 years old, who were already last year's runners-up world champions.
In second place are Bilik and Sheligi with 22 negatives to their credit.
And in third place is a duo from Argentina with 30 negative points.
Additional Israelis participating in the competition:
Yoav Omer from Sdot Yam won the rsx surfing and won the title of "World Youth Champion".
Kati Spichkov from Eilat competes in the women's division in RSX model windsurfers. Katie is currently ranked second but the competition is not over yet.
Girls 420: Linoi Koren and Omar Biliya from Sdot Yam are currently ranked 10th.
Bilik and Sheligi on the left - lead the cruise with a leeward wind. Photography - Ben Eshel
Ben Eshel - coach of the 420 - Haifa sailing(Photo: Yaron Karmi)Ben Eshel, the coach of Bilik and Shelgi, said this evening to Hai Fa in an interview from the competition website in New Zealand: As their coach, I am happy and proud of this achievement! We knew that there would be a tough competition for the gold, against the American team, which is a more experienced team, but we gave it a serious fight, which continued until today (Sunday), but since the results of both teams were stable at the top, the American closed the story the day before and we will settle for the silver medal in this competition.
The podium in New ZealandPlans to continue - the Olympics:
The 420 model, in which Billik and Shaligi excel, is a youth model and not an Olympic model. Ben Eshel said this evening that the young sailors will advance immediately after the competition to the 470 model, which is an Olympic model.
The goal is an Olympic campaign for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Winning a silver medal at the World Championships is the parting gift of the pair of Haifa sailors from the 420 model after being European Champions and World Vice Champions.
Billik and Snowy with the blue spinnaker fly with a side wind in the cruise in which they finished in first place
Bilik and Sheligi prepare for the jump with fluttering sails. Photography - Ben Eshel