Alfredo González and Cristian Sánchez have just written a new page of success for Spanish, Canarian and Lanzarote sailing. They did it this Thursday in Cascais, Portugal, by being proclaimed Snipe World Champions before 89 crews from 18 countries.
With what Alfredo and Cristian have achieved, it is confirmed that "there is no two without three", since in 1988 Pedro Ferrer and Iñaki Galán were proclaimed champions of Spain, while in 1998, Aureliano Negrín Sanginés and David Martín won the title of European champions. Until this Wednesday, the sailors of the RCNA had achieved different national and international titles in different classes of light sailing and cruisers.
The last day of the Cascais World Championship was complicated for the Lanzarote natives, although without losing options or hopes of achieving the world title of one of the most traditional classes in light sailing, in which Spain was everything from the hand of the Malaga native Félix Gancedo, world champion on two occasions, a master championship, 4 European championships and 15 Spanish championships, between 1969 and 1990.
Alfredo and Cristian fulfilled their objective of finishing with sufficient advantage over the two crews (United States and Brazil), which surpassed them in the classification at the beginning of Sunday's day.
A "heart attack" duel that tipped the balance to the Lanzarote side. Alfredo and Cristian finished third in the race that closed the World Championship, surpassing the Americans who were leaders in 11 positions and who finished 14th. The other rival to beat representing Brazil finished 8th to 5 points. In the end, gold for Alfredo González and Cristian Sánchez with 34 points, second place for the Brazilians Alexandre Paradeda and Gabriel Kieling, with 38 points, and the same score for the third, the Americans Ernesto Rodríguez and Kathleen Toke.
The Royal Nautical Club of Arrecife had four crews within the Spanish team, Miguel Ángel Lasso Lorenzo and Tomás Fuentes Berriel were classified in 12th place. In 39th place finished Alejandro Bethencourt Fuentes and Jorge Padilla de Armas. 50th place was occupied by Miguel Ángel Guerra Naverán and Luis Miguel Hernández.
