Marco Gradoni, like you no one ever has: hat trick at the Optimist Worlds
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He could have left the Optimist class as early as this year; physically and technically he was already ready for the leap into the larger class. But Marco Gradoni, class of 2004 from Tognazzi Marine Village, could not leave before one last gem: winning his third world championship in a row and becoming the winningest sailor in Optimist history.
He did so by closing out the world championship on a high note, going on to win the final two trials with 25 knots of wind. Once again as a ruler, this time on the ocean wave in Antigua, under thunderstorms or in the high winds that were often there during the week. He didn’t blink, recovering after a less-than-perfect start and closing with a steady, relentless crescendo. Antigua’s Caribbean success comes after success in Cyprus in 2018 and Thailand in 2017.
Going further back in time, the other resounding blue result was the 1998-99 double by Mattia Pressich from Trieste and in ’87 and ’88 with wins by Sabrina Landi and Ugo Vanelo. However, 2019 is a memorable and historic year for the blue Optimist, in fact in one season we won the men’s and women’s European Championship (Alessandro Cortese (CV Crotone) and Federica Contardi (Tognazzi Marine Village) ) and the world championship in idividual and team.
WHO IS MARCO GRADONI
Born in 2004, Marco began sailing in Fano, his parents’ hometown, where he attended his first summer sailing course at the Club Nautico Fanese. Living in Rome, he has always played sports on the Lazio coast where he found his coach Simone Ricci.
He has competed on optimists in four worlds on three different continents, the first in Vilamoura, Portugal in 2016 with an astonishing fourth place put in just 12 years old, the following year a stunning victory in the Thai waters of Pattaya, and last year confirmation in Cyprus. Then, again, yesterday’s victory in Antigua that made Marco the only athlete in the history of the Optimist World Championships to win the title three times, which has been awarded for 57 years.
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