Pavlos Kontides, Cyprus’ two-time Olympic silver medallist, will compete in the second sailing Grand Slam of the year, taking place in Hyères, France, with racing scheduled from Monday, April 20 to Saturday, April 25.
According to an announcement, Kontides’ participation in Hyères, as well as in the first Grand Slam event of the year in Palma de Mallorca, is partly intended as competitive training as he continues his return from an injury that affected him earlier this year.
“The truth is that I am still in the process of returning after the injury,” Kontides said. He explained that he had regained rhythm in Palma, although he was unable to compete there due to illness, and has since continued training in Cyprus.
He noted that his level of readiness will also depend on weather conditions. “If there are days with strong winds, it will probably show that I haven’t had enough time back in the boat, but this is something we are working on with the entire team,” he said.
Kontides stressed that his main objective is the European Championship in May, although he still intends to perform as well as possible in Hyères.
“I know my capabilities, but I also recognise that I spent several months away from the boat because of the injury, even though I could continue training some parts of my body,” he added.
New competition format
The event in Hyères will feature strong competition, with more than 130 sailors competing in the ILCA7 (Laser) class. Notably, the scoring system has changed.
Monday and Tuesday will be the first racing days, with five races scheduled, following the traditional qualification format where sailors are divided into two or three groups.
After the second day, each athlete’s overall ranking will count as one race result in the finals. For example, a sailor ranked 10th will effectively carry a 10th-place finish into the finals, which cannot be discarded.
From Wednesday to Friday, the finals will take place with seven races scheduled. Sailors will be able to discard their worst result, meaning that six race results plus the carried result will count toward their total score.
The top ten sailors will then advance to the final on Saturday, which will consist of two races, with single points applied instead of the double scoring used previously.
“The major change is that points are now compressed,” Kontides explained. “The difference between positions cannot exceed nine points. If the gap is larger, it will be reduced to nine; if it is smaller, it will remain as it is.”
He added that sailors ranked fifth to tenth cannot have a gap of more than 18 points from the sailor in third place, ensuring that all finalists retain mathematical chances of winning a medal, even though such a comeback would be very difficult in practice.