19-year-old Israeli wins world windsurfing championship

by Frankie Sachs 
September 21, 2003 
http://www.jpost.com

Israel's Lee Korsitz blew away the windsurfing world as she went 
from an unknown competitor to women's mistral world champion at 
the Olympic Sailing World Championships in Cadiz, Spain. 
Gal Friedman, who won the 2002 Mistral World Championship, took 
the bronze medal in the men's competition. 

Korsitz, 19, has been windsurfing at the senior level for just 
over one year, and came into the event ranked No. 29. 
Her previous best result came earlier in the year when she came in 
seventh at the Mistral European Championship in Sicily. 

Korsitz led the event from day 1, winning the first race, and 
finishing the next three in fourth, third, and sixth place before 
winning the fifth race to substantiate her lead. After her worst 
performance (32) in the sixth race, back-to-back second place 
finished made her the clear favorite. But the experienced 
New Zealander, Barbara Kendall, a three-time Olympic medalist and 
defending world champ, came on strong at the end, winning the 
eighth and tenth races, to close within six points of Korsitz with 
only Sunday's final race remaining. 

However, a lack of wind at the bay delayed the start of the 11th 
and final race, which if cancelled, would have guaranteed Korsitz 
the title on the strength of the first 10 races. But after over 
four hours of waiting, it was decided that there was enough wind 
and the final race was on. 

A nervous Korsitz struggled on the final day, finishing 17th, 
but remaining ahead of her only real threat, who at the moment of 
truth, served up her worst performance of the week, coming in 
27th and settling for the silver medal. 

Korsitz tallied 55 negative points in 11 races, edging Kendall 
by one point. France's Faustine Merret came in third with 63. 

Shiri Ron, who just last year came in fifth at the European 
Championships, finished 28th with 273 points, and never finished 
a race better than 18th. In addition to the gold, Korsitz will 
represent Israel at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. 

Going into the final race, Korsitz credited Friedman with her 
success. At a press conference following the tenth race, she said 
"I have been training with the defending world champion in the 
men's event, Gal Friedman. He has taught me everything." 

But the skills and knowledge that helped Korsitz weren't enough 
for Friedman, the bronze medal winner at the 1996 Olympic Games 
in Atlanta. Though first place was clearly out of reach, with 
Poland's Przemek Miarczynski easily taking the gold, winning 
eight of the first nine races, and clinching the title on 
Saturday, Friedman lacked the killer instinct he showed December 
in Pattaya, Thailand, when he became the world champ. 

Friedman, who together with Joao Rodrigues of Portugal trailed 
Greek rival Nikolaos Kaklamanakis by two points going into the 
final race on Sunday, came in ninth, two spots behind Kaklamanakis 
and missing out on the silver medal. Friedman finished with 
57 points, Kaklamanakis with 53, and Rodrigues, who came in 13th 
in the final race, had 61 points. Miarczynski, the winner, had a 
remarkable 22. The other Israeli, Alex Chabner, finished in 
51st out of 118 competitors with 313 points. 

Meanwhile, after six races in the 470 class, Gidon Kliger and 
Udi Gal are in fourth place with 18 points, while Yogev Yosef and 
Shachaf Amir are 23rd with 40 points. Kliger and Gal, who won the 
third race and finished second in the fifth, are only four points 
out of second place. 

In the women's 470, Nike Kornecki and Vered Bouskila are ninth 
with 33 points, only ten points from fourth. 

The 470 competitions are scheduled to end on Wednesday.