Katrina Micallef of the Royal Malta Yacht Club has won the bronze medal overall at the ILCA 4 World Championship, a historic achievement for Maltese sailing. Micallef finished third in a field of 150 female sailors from 45 nations, behind two Dutch sailors and ahead of the Italians, whose teams have collected many honours at recent Worlds and Europeans.
Conditions tested the athletes’ physical preparation, with big Atlantic waves and a cold northerly of 15–18 knots. Micallef had worked hard over the winter for exactly these conditions, all while studying for her O-level exams.
The Maltese boys also performed well in a highly competitive fleet of 280 from 47 nations. Timmy Vassallo, on his ILCA 4 Worlds debut, raced in the Gold fleet and finished 39th overall and in the U16 top ten, while newcomer Jonas Micallef finished 189th overall and 50th in the U16 category.
Micallef’s participation was supported by the Maltese Olympic Committee, SportMalta, the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Malta Sailing Federation.
Photo Credit: Sailcoach / Luiza Passow
