After battling at the top of his 60 boat event all week, Ireland’s Rocco Wright (Howth Yacht Club) held his nerve and emerged overall winner of the ILCA6 Men’s European Championship on the Côte d’Azur today (Monday 21st November 2022, Hyères, France).
The 16 year old also won the U21 division and this event is added to his Youth World Championship Gold won in the Netherlands in July.
The ILCA6 Men’s event is the stepping-stone class to senior level competition for the ILCA7 used at the Olympic Games.
“Rocco has worked hard on his fitness since the summer, this work was rewarded with the stellar performances in breeze earlier in the week” said James O’Callaghan, Performance Director with Irish Sailing. “The result and his superb 2022 season is not only a tribute to him but also to the support of his family and wider community in Howth Yacht Club.”
Wright is part of the Irish Sailing Youth Academy and his 2022 results are important benchmarks in his development.
“I’m extremely happy with this week as the first few days were very challenging and that was my weakness coming out of summer,” he said. “I’m just speechless to be world and European champion this year. It was always a dream of mine to win a worlds and a European and to do it the same year… I’m just over the moon!”
His immediate goal is to resume working on his skills at a training camp in Valencia next weekend but he also was keen to pay tribute to his coaches and support staff but particularly his parents and home club.
