Sébastien Schneiter warmed up for his Olympic campaign in the best possible style with victory alongside Grégoire Siegwart in the Swiss edition of the #redbullfoilinggeneration, seeing off 30 other top Swiss sailors and booking their place in the World Final in Newport (USA).
Schneiter, who will be partnering Lucien Cujean in the 49er in Rio next month, and Siegwart led from the start and extended their lead throughout before registering a comprehensive win in the warm sunshine. 32 young sailing talents from Switzerland aged between 16 and 20 years competed in 14 races in Geneva on impressive foiling catamarans, the Flying Phantom, reaching speeds of up to 60 km/h. Female sailor Asya Luvisetto surged through the Lucky Loser round with Grégoire Peverelli to secure second place in the final with Guillaume Rol and Alexis Megevand finishing third. This Sunday’s final series were disputed at far weaker wind than at the beginning of the week but the final showdown took place in the most beautiful sunshine. Starting in first position, the duo Schneiter / Siegwart gradually built their lead and controlled their opponents without giving them the slightest opportunity. “The start was very important,” said Schneiter at the end of the race. “I had a great time this week. The organisation was extremely professional. Certainly, the experiences I gained during the qualifications for the Olympic Games helped, but I also learned a lot from the coaches who were at our side during the entire week.” Siegwart, Schneiter’s cousin, was very happy to sail in the family circle. “I’m also preparing for the Olympic Games. However, only for 2020 and on a 470 sailboat,” he adds. “Sailing on foiling catamarans is completely different. This experience was simply awesome.” Moved to tears, Luvisetto and Peverelli struggle to realise what they just achieved. “It’s awesome. I’d never thought that we’d come so far,” says Asya, 2014 Laser 4.7 World Champion. “Grégoire and I never sailed together before. The communication was excellent and we completely trusted each other.” Happy with what he achieved, Peverelly rather puts this achievement down to the velocity with which he achieved progress. “As opposed to Asya, I had no experience with catamarans. The coaches were super professional and shared their entire knowledge with us.” The #redbullfoilinggeneration is a #competition that introduces skilled sailors to the future of sailing on state-of-the-art foiling catamarans. The talent-search takes place in 15 countries over two years.
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