Diego Negri is Star world champion with Frithjof

“It’s incredible, a dream come true”. These were the words of Diego Negri as soon as he came ashore after winning the Star World Championship in Kiel with German bowman Frithjof Kleen, a day early. And if he says so, who had come second three times in the run-up to the title in the former Olympic class, you have to believe it.

“It has been a long road to get to this finish. My whole sailing history comes together here today. I think it’s been a tough championship, with some waiting at the beginning, and then two long races a day, trying to keep my concentration at all times. But it’s fantastic, and it’s come at a good time in my sailing career. I don’t know what I could have done better this week, I knew we had to do something special to beat the other guys, Mateusz and Bruno, Xavier and the others, and I think Frithjof and I really did something special,” continued the world champion of Star, the boat he sailed in at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after two in the Laser in Athens and Sydney.

“This is not my first Star World Championship, but it feels more special than the other,” said Frithjof Kleen. “The biggest dream for me was to bring Diego here, to win this. That’s what makes it so special. Only one downside, I won’t be able to tease him anymore, I used to tell Diego to look up on the mainsail, that he had ‘only’ a silver star, while I had a gold one, so he had to listen to me. Now we have two golds, and I’m happy about that”.

The magic summer of Italian sport never seems to end, and this is a really heavy title in a class that, even now that it is no longer Olympic, brings together some of the best professional athletes in the world. They may be former Olympians, but in the Star class there are people who have won the Olympics, the America’s Cup, round-the-world races and much more. So thanks to Diego Negri, not forgetting bowman Frithjof Kleen, for having brought Italian sailing to the top.