The Official
Website of the
International
Sailing Federation

A total of 120 places have been allocated, bringing the total number of sailors heading to Cascais for 28 June-13 July up to 1,464. The assignment of Commission Places by the ISAF Qualification Commission is the final stage of the entry process for the 2007 ISAF Worlds. The first round of Commission Places were decided for all eleven events with the exception of the Laser.

233 applications were received by the Qualification Commission, with 120 entry places allocated to 37 nations. The entry process now moves into the second round of Commission Places, with spaces still to be assigned in all the events.

Famous Faces

Amongst the famous faces who successfully applied for entry spots are Women's 470 team Vesna DEKLEVA and Klara MAUCEC (SLO), silver medallists at the 2004 470 Worlds and fourth place finishers in Athens, who are back after maternity break. Also set to line up in the 470 fleet in Cascais are local hero Joana PRATAS, a veteran of the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games in the Europe, who teams up with crew Ines ALVES (POR).

Sydney Olympians and 2002 World Champions Simon COOKE and Scott ILLINGWORTH (NZL) make a return to the Men's 470 fleet, after a break to sail the 420s, in which they took the silver medal at the last two Worlds. In the Tornado fleet, Helge SACH and Christian Sach (GER) also make their return to the Olympic Classes after time off elsewhere, most notably in the Formula 18 class where they won the 2006 World title.

There are a couple of interesting entries in the Star, including the 1999 World Champion Eric DOYLE (USA), currently in Valencia as part of the BMW ORCALE Racing afterguard, and Andrew LANDENBERGER, a former Tornado European Champion and medallist at Tornado and F18 Worlds, who has teamed up with Simon REFFOLD (AUS).

Young Guns

Along with the well known names are some young stars heading for Cascais, who will be looking to make their mark and follow in the footsteps of sailors like Ben AINSLIE (GBR) and Paige RAILEY (USA), who rapidly transferred youth success onto the senior circuit.

Claire DENNIS (USA), won last year's Laser Radial Female Youth World Championship title whilst still just 15 years old and has already risen up to #49 in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings, whilst 18 year old Ausra MILEVICIUTE (LTU) is the reigning Laser Radial Youth European Champion. Giles SCOTT (GBR), crowned 2005 ISAF Youth World Champion in the Laser and a terrific seventh in the 2006 Laser Worlds, will compete in the Finn.

Reigning 470 Junior World Champions Eyal LEVIN and Yam AMIR (ISR) make the step up to senior level, as do young guns from South America Mauricio ZULUETA and Virgilio TOPASIO (CHI), who are on the 470 Class 2008 Olympic Pathway Solidarity Grant. Another ISAF Youth World Champion to look out for is 2005 420 gold medallist Wee Chin TEO and his crew Benjamin TAN (SIN). TEO was amongst the medals again at the 2006 Asian Games as part of the gold medal winning Singapore match racing team.

Amongst the windsurfers, 21 year old Pepa MAVRODIEVA (BUL), won the PWA World Cup Balaton and Women's Youth Formula Windsurfing European Championship in 2004, whilst 18 year old Natthaphong PHONOPPHARAT (THA) will be looking to build on an impressive results at the Olympic Test Event in Qingdao last year.