In the European Championship, Spain is among the most awarded countries with 15 medals, six of them gold, of which three are in the hands of Theresa Zabell - two won by Patricia Guerra and one with Begoña Vía- Dufresne-. Jordi Xammar and Nicolás Rodríguez were bronze in 2017 and the last gold was for Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos in 2011 (Photo Maria Muíña)

The competition returns to Portugal to fight the last two European waters of this Olympic cycle: the 470 European Championship, from 2 to 7 May in Vilamoura, and the Finn Gold Cup, world class to be held in Porto from 8 to 12 May, in which Spain will seek its classification as a country for the Olympic Games in the only class that it lacks.

They will be the 470 crews of the Spanish Olympic team, the ESP Sailing Team, the first to go on stage with the European class. Jordi Xammar and Nicolás Rodríguez and Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero will sail from tomorrow Sunday in Vilamorura, with six days of race ahead and a total of 11 tests scheduled plus the Medal Race of each modality, male and female.

The Spanish teams arrive as great favorites and with a thirst for gold in a championship that is the culmination of their Olympic preparation, a long way in which they have been moving to the world elite: Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero are the current world champions, title achieved a few weeks ago in Vilamoura waters and that reaffirms them as second in the World Sailing World ranking in the female category. Jordi Xammar and Nicolás Rodríguez have been defending the first position since the first Ranking of 2021 and are ready to exceed the second place of the last continental, that of 2019.

Your rivals will be the highest level you can find and are also ready to go out to the race field. Among the boys the Swedish Dahlberg and Bergström as title advocates and current world champions, the Portuguese Costa and Costa who closed the last European podium and are subchampions of the world 2021, the Australians Belcher and Ryan, first classified from the European Open 2019 or the New Zealanders Snow- Hansen and Willcox who closed the same podium.

And the best of every house among the women: the complete podiums of the World Sailing Ranging, of the 2021 world and the last European, starting with the Spanish, the British Mills and McIntyre, the French Lecointre and Returnaz, the Dutch Zegers and Berkhout and the Italian Berta and Caruso.

At the close of the European of 470 we will raise our views north of the Portuguese coast to Porto, where the last great battle will be fought, the Finn Gold Cup, which, in addition to the world title, puts into question the only country square for the Tokyo Olympic Games to be awarded in Europe for this class. The one that Spain lacks to make full classification in all the Olympic sailing modalities. Joan Cardona and Alejandro Muscat will be back together with a single common goal and are ready for it: Cardona, third of the World Sailing World Ranking, is the current World and Sub23 European champion, was ninth absolute in the last Gold Cup, in which Muscat was twelfth, and third in the absolute European, with Muscat fourth.