Antonia and Victoria Schultheis fight on to hold on to top-five placing at European Championships

Antonia Schultheis and her sister Victoria Schultheis continued to battle to hold on to a top-five position at the European Sailing Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece as the Maltese duo finished the day in fifth place, and still with a chance of a medal podium position.

The Malta Sailors Club duo had lost their leadership on Friday after a disappointing day which saw their hopes of a medals significantly damaged by a disqualification for a false start.

On Saturday, the Schultheis sisters had low-par showing on the opening regatta of the day when they could only manage a 23rd-placing. But they kept control of their nerves and stormed back to finish in an excellent second place in the final race of the day to end in fifth place with 126 net points.

Odile van Aanholt and Elise de Ruyter, of the Netherlands, lead the standings on 86.2 net points ahead of Croatian pair Enia Nincevic and Mihaela de Micheli Vitturi.

Third place is currently held by Danish duo Johanne Schmidt and Andrea Schmidt on 124 points, just 0.6 ahead of Canada’s Georgia Lewin-Lafrance and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance and and two points ahead of the Schultheis sisters.

In the men’s 49er class Richard Schultheis and his team-mate Max Korner held on to their 31st position despite failing to finish race two of the day.

In fact, Schultheis and Korner’s tenth placing in the first race of the day enabled them to hold on to their position with 133 net points.