The Sail Team BCN bid farewell today with full honours after their participation in the Youth America’s Cup, where they finished in sixth place overall in the semi finals of the competition. The local team, with Martín Wizner and Conrad Konitzer as skippers and Jaime Framis and Antonio Torrado as trimmers, demonstrated with their performance that this generation of sailors has a bright future in the world of sailing, and they have planted a seed that will surely bear excellent fruit in the near future.
Conrad Konitzer, the Sail Team BCN’s portside skipper, highlighted the great feelings they had as they finished. “We are leaving with a very good feeling, especially because we had a lot of fun and saw that we could be competitive. We are very happy with what we’ve learned and with the support from everyone. What I take away is the amazing team we’ve built. We’ve all made a great team, learning to handle different roles as they changed and working together excellently with great camaraderie.”
The Sail Team BCN equaled the best-ever Spanish result in a Youth America’s Cup, achieved in 2017 by a team featuring notable names such as Diego Botín, Florian Trittel, Jordi Xammar, Joan Cardona, and Joel Rodríguez. Today, all of them have Olympic medals and titles in international circuits, showing that Wizner, Konitzer, Framis, and Torrado are ready to follow in their footsteps.
Along with the four main sailors, the rest of the team—Neus Ballester, who will also compete in the Women’s America’s Cup, Marcos Fernández, and Albert Torres—formed a tight-knit group that led to their success, with Luis Brito as the coach from the very beginning of the process. Olympic sailor Mónica Azón, Ross Daniel as the director, and Stewart Hosford as the CEO coordinated the steps of the Sail Team BCN’s youth squad.
Ross Daniel was very pleased with the team’s performance. “We are very happy. Our goal was to reach the semifinals, and we achieved that while giving a great impression. Competing with the top teams was almost impossible due to the number of hours they’ve had on the water, so today we had nothing to lose. What I am very clear about is that this group is a solid foundation for the next America’s Cup,” stated the director of Sail Team BCN.
In the four semi final races, Marco Gradoni’s Luna Rossa team proved to be a step above the rest, while American Magic and the British Athena Pathway fought fiercely for second place. In the end, the Italians and Americans will face off for the Youth America’s Cup title in a match race scheduled for Thursday.
Youth America’s Cup Semifinal Standings:
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) 31
NYY American Magic (USA) 20
Athena Pathway (GBR) 19
Swedish Challenge (SWE) 16
Andoo Team Australia (AUS) 14
Sail Team BCN (ESP) 12
