Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have secured the 2016 49er European Championship and their 25th consecutive 49er regatta victory. Alex Maloney and Molly Meech closed out the regatta in fifth place in the 49erFX.
The 49er win, in the bag before starting the medal race yet again, is astonishing and predictable at the same time. With less than four months until the 2016 Rio Olympic Games Burling (25 years) and Tuke (26 years) are unanimously recognised as better, faster and more consistent, leaving the rest of the fleet wondering if anyone can catch up.
The 49er fleet squeezed a total of 19 races into the six day schedule in Barcelona, Spain this week. The kiwis made a banging start to the regatta with a couple of race wins, and then never relinquished their lead, only extending on points as the regatta went on.
Today they started early and completed three gold fleet races before determining the top ten placed crews to sail the medal race. By then Burling and Tuke were 44 points ahead of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia, and had an unassailable leading margin before starting the last double-points race.
"Obviously we're pretty stoked to go out there and take another title," says Peter Burling. "We've been doing a bit of work over the summer, you know, tidying up a few things.