Morgan Pinckney led the United States to gold at the Youth Match Racing World Championship in Middelfart, Denmark, after a gripping five-race final. Kelly Holthus, Cam Spriggs, Jacob Posner and Alice Schmid completed the winning crew.
A heatwave pushed temperatures and on-water intensity to the limit all week, with light, shifty winds testing all 12 teams from 11 nations. Despite the conditions, the race committee completed all 104 races.
The Americans' path to the title wasn't straightforward. A five-boat tie at the end of the round robin was followed by a tough semi-final against France, then a final against Australian skipper Daniel Kemp, who arrived ranked second in the world.
The final was level after four races. Pinckney described the tension: "Even though we got the start right, and the umpires gave Daniel a penalty, I got a little nervous on the first beat, and he reeled us back in. He got ahead and killed his penalty, then we got ahead just before the last windward mark and managed to stay in the lead until the finish thanks to great crew work. I am so happy to be sailing with these guys."
Kemp was measured in defeat. "Morgan gave us a penalty in the pre-start, but we managed to fight our way back. Even though we managed to do our penalty while we were ahead, Morgan and his fought their way back. So, right now the result stings a little but I am sure that we will be happy about the result in a couple of weeks."
Denmark's Mathias Rossing took bronze on home water, having had to recover through the petit finals after a difficult semi. "It has been a tricky week here in Middelfart with light winds and strong current. We didn't sail up to our best in the semis, luckily we managed to get ourselves back into the game in the petit finals, and we are happy to finish with a bronze medal," he said after the awards ceremony.
New Zealand's team of Ethan Fong, Lucas Day, Hugo McMullen, Harry McMullen and Amelia Angus finished fifth, ahead of Great Britain in sixth.
