The Italian team were once again dominant at the Laser/ILCA 4 World championships in Villamoura, Portugal, on the final day of qualification.

In both the boys' and the girls' fleets, they occupy first and second places, with Nicolas Cassitta leading Massimiliano Antionazzi in the boys after six races, and Ginevra Caracciolo leading Maria Arseni in the girls. The other team that looks impressive are the Greek team, who features prominently in both the girls' and the boys’ results.

There was a huge success for the Irish girls’ team as Sienna Wright (HYC) won the first race of Day 3, having added a 6th and a 7th place to her first-day scores, she finishes the qualifying in 10th place and will now compete in the gold fleet for final honours.

She will be joined in that fleet by Lucy Ives of Carlingford Sailing Club, who, despite breaking her tiller before the 6th race, finished 64th overall in the 154-boat fleet.

Ireland’s third girl Ava Ennis missed out on the Gold Fleet but scored a very credible 12th place in the last race today to finish just outside of the Gold Fleet.

The Italian team are dominant at the Laser/ILCA 4 World championships in Villamoura, Portugal Photo: Osga Photo

In the boy’s fleet, Sam Ledoux (NYC) has had a tremendous start to the regatta and has qualified for the Gold Fleet in 48th place after six races.

Unfortunate not to be joining him, there are Daniel O’Connor and Christian Ennis (both from RSGYC), who both qualified for the Silver Fleet in 88th and 103rd place, respectively.

Daniel Palmer of Ballyholme Yacht Club suffered gear damage between races today and therefore fell into the Bronze Fleet.

Sam Ledoux and Sienna Wright of the National Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club, respectively, were the leading Irish boats at the Laser/ILCA 4 World Championships in Villamoura, Portugal.

Two races were completed yesterday in each fleet.

All 426 boats launched efficiently in under 45 minutes for a smooth start to the day.

The venue produced champagne sailing conditions, with 14–20 knots of wind building throughout the afternoon.

Some of of the Irish sailors at the ILCA 4 Worlds Opening Ceremony in Portugal

Sam picked up a 14th and an 11th place in the first two races, while Sienna did even better with two 11th places. Christian Ennis sailing under the burgee of the Royal St George Yacht Club in currently lying in the top 100 and Daniel Palmer from Ballyholme Yacht Club is not much further back.

In the girls, Lucy Ives of Carlingford Sailing Club also had a good day, and she also lies in the top 100 but again, compatriot Ava Ennis from the Royal St George Yacht Club isn’t far behind.

The most notable performance today came from the Italian sailing team, which has sailors leading both divisions after the first day of the world championship.

In the boys' division, Italian Massimiliano Antoniazzi leads the way after sailing two bullets in the green fleet. Israel’s Omer Vered Vilenchik and Greece’s Panagiotis Spanos, each sailed a first- and second-place finish in the red fleet to sit in second and third overall.

In the girls' division, team Italy continues to lead. Maria Vittoria Arseni and Ginevra Caracciolo hold first and second after today’s races. Arseni, like Antoniazzi, scored two bullets to start the championship at the top. Caracciolo had two top-three finishes today. In third overall is Annemijn Algra from the Netherlands, tied with Slovenia’s Alenka Valencic with six points.

There are two more qualifying races today and tomorrow and with a good breeze forecast, it’s going to be a challenge.

Day Two (Tuesday) at the warm-up event for the Laser/ILCA 4 World Championships proved to be a tricky one for most of the sailors with consistency hard to find in a fickle 4-5 knots of wind.

On the positive side, the fleet was joined by four more sailors providing extra competition and bringing it up to a total of 56 boats.

Sienna Wright (HYC) scored a 22nd 17th and 26th in what were very difficult conditions. She’s currently discarding the 26th place but she has slipped to 11th overall and is now the 2nd placed girl behind Talia Hamlin of the USA.

Daniel O’Connor (RSGYC) slipped from 11th place overnight to 13th place with a 23rd place in the first race of the day, followed up by a 12th and a 17th. Krzysztof Ciobrowski (RSGYC) had the toughest day and slipped to 45th place overall.

The final day’s racing is scheduled for today, Wednesday with the first of two races scheduled to start at 2 pm. The regatta has been the ideal preparation for next week's World Championships.

Results here

The Irish ILCA 4/Laser Squad have finished their preparations ahead of the ILCA 4 world championships next week.

The team will travel to Villamoura in Portugal accompanied by world-ranked number 1 ILCA 6 sailor Basileia Carahaliou who will be on the water with the team for the event.

The squad of seven were selected following on from their performances earlier this year at the ILCA Munster Championships and the Youth Sailing National Championships in Ballyholme.

All of the squad are under 17 years, with some being as young as 14.

The squad comprised of five boys and two girls are Daniel Palmer (Ballyholme Yacht Club), Seth Walker, Krzystof Ciborowski, Max Cantwell, Daniel O’Connor, Ava Ennis (all from Royal St George Yacht Club), and Lucy Ives (Carlingford Sailing Club).

They are also being joined by ILCA 6 Squad member Sam Ledoux (National Yacht Club) for the event, along with Sienna Wright (Howth Yacht Club), and Christian Ennis (Royal St George Yacht Club).

Day three of the ILCA4/Laser 4.7 Youth World Championships and more changes at the top of the leader board in the boy's division as the competition reaches the half-way stage.

Less than 10 points separate the top three sailors with Alexandros Eleftheriadis (GRE) now top of the leaderboard with an impressive 1, 6 in today's racing.

Best of the Irish is Howth Yacht Club's Rocco Wright moving up into 27th place after six qualifying races sailed in the 150-boat fleet.

Boys Overall: 1st Alexandros Eleftheriadis (GRE) 17pts, 2nd Martins Atilla (LAT) 21pts, 3rd Antonio López Martínez (ESP) 26pts, 4th Joan Ravie (ESP) 32pts, 5th Omer Vered Vilenchikm (ISR) 35pts.

Winds are to strengthen tomorrow but as they are forecast to remain offshore and westerly in direction, watching out for wind shifts will be an important race strategy for Dublin Bay.

Marednic leads girls division

Petra Marednic (CRO) has a firm hold on the top spot in the girl's divisions.

Marednic continues to steal the show with another two first-place finishes. She ends the qualifying series with 7 points from 5 scoring races.

As impressive as this is, Emma Mattivi (ITA) is hot on Petras heels and is on 12 points, with Claudia Adán Lledó (ESP) holding on close behind in 3rd with 15points.

The top Irish is Eimer Mcmorrow Moriarty in 38th place in the 80-boat fleet

Girls Overall: 1st Petra Marednic (CRO) 7pts, 2nd Emma Mattivi (ITA) 12pts, 3rd Claudia Adán Lledó (ESP) 15pts, 4th Gaia Bolzonella (ITA) 23pts, 5th Roos Wind (NED) 25pts.

229 boys and girls are competing from 31 different countries for the overall prize that is being hosted jointly by the harbour's National Yacht Club and Royal St. George Yacht Clubs. 

The organisers say it is one of the largest international sporting events taking place in Ireland this year. 

Boys results are here for and girls here

Racing continues from 10:30 am with the first of the final series races