Sailing: the Olympic Games look good for the French with their performance at La Grande-Motte International Regatta

Deuxièmes à La Grande-Motte, Charline Picon et Sarah Steyaert sont déjà tournées vers Marseille. – Didier Hillaire

Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon won the silver medal in 49erFX at the European Championship. No charm but good lessons for other French people.

Applause, hugs and shouts coming out of the water at the La Grande-Motte boat park between members of the French team. These are images that we will want to see again in two and a half months in Marseille at the Olympic Games.

Sunday, it was only a silver medal and the European Championship, but we could see the relief and satisfaction on the faces of Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon. The 49erFX duo wins their first medal. "Frankly, we've been chasing a result for a while, so it comes at the right time", rejoiced the Olympic champion in windsurfing in Rio in 2016. "There is still one place to win, so it’s cool", emphasized his partner to better emphasize that the objective was indeed in a few weeks, a little further on the Mediterranean.

Who has reserved all the possible conditions for them this week with wind at more than 20 knots at the start of the week to lighter weather at the end, swell, sun, rain, Sunday morning… "We were on a regatta of work and communication. There are still lots of things to put in place", noted Sarah Steyaert. "There are lots of positive points", positive Charline Picon who will be able to sleep peacefully on her catamaran moored in La Grande-Motte with which she will tour the world with her husband and child after the Olympic Games.

The medal race won by the Biterroise Aude Compan

We do not know if Aude Compan will go to sleep in Béziers where she was born but the Héraultaise will also go to bed with the feeling of work accomplished since with Mathilde Lovina, They won the medal race for surely their last race together. "We couldn't have asked for better", explains the latter especially since there is a good fifth place overall in a series won by the Belgians Maenhaut – Geurts.

In Nacra17, as expected, it is the Italians Rugerro Tita – Caterina Banti who won their fourth world champion title. The French Lou Berthomieu and Tim Mourniac only took eighth place but they learned a lot in preparation for the Games.

"We came to see if the boat was working well. Unfortunately, we had some difficulties with it. We don't feel perfectly well. It’s interesting to feel it today rather than in Marseille. We're going to continue to think a little about what's wrong, whether it's the boat's settings or whether it's the boat itself. If it’s the boat itself, we have several solutions, notably the one we had in Palma, which has a very good base", explained the helmsman who took fourth place in Spain.

In 49er, it was more complicated for the Habs Erwan Fischer and Clément Pequin, ultimately 17th in a European championship won by the British James Peters and Fynn Sterritt. Even if they finished behind the Uruguayans Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz in the final ranking.
But there is no need to worry for the Blues crew, world champions a few months earlier and second in the test event last year in Marseille.

Also read: Sailing: “I defined the roadmap,” explains Philippe Mourniac, director of the French team

They and all the others rehearsed their scales well at La Grande-Motte during a competition which satisfied everyone and whose organization showed itself to the height. So much so that other events of this type could take place in the coming years.

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