Malta’s sailor Richard Schultheis wins silver medal at World Junior Championships

Maltese sailor Richard Schultheis secured another impressive result in his career after winning a silver medal at the Junior U-23 World Championship that was held in Travemunder Woche in Germany this week.

Teaming up with Yoann Bertinn, the 18-year-old sailor produced another impressive performance in the prestigious championship when placing second in the 49er Class.

This is by far the best-ever performance for an U-20 sailor at a U-23 49er World Championship and no doubt further underlines his undoubted potential as he looks to secure a place in the next Olympic Games to be held in Paris next year.

Schultheis and Bertinn enjoyed a very strong start at the Germany championships as they led the way after the opening three races.

However, Australian duo Jack Ferguson and Jack Hilderbrand came to the fore and managed to leapfrog Schultheis and Bertinn in the overall standings.

Still Schultheis kept sailing consistently and put on a strong fight to his Australian rival, battling for the gold medal till the final race.

In fact, Schultheis and Bertinn finished their commitments in the championship with a net score of 76 points, just eight behind Ferguson and Hilderbrand.

Sweden duo Marius Westerlind and Olle Aronsson had to settle with the bronze medal when totalling 89 points.

Meanwhile next month, Richard’s sisters, Antonia and Victoria Schultheis will start their bid for a dream qualification to the Paris Olympics when they compete in the first qualifier for the 2024 Games.

In fact, the Schultheis sisters will be in action at the 49erFX World Championships that will be held in The Hague, Netherlands.

The championships are set to be staged between August 8 and 15.

The Olympic qualification system is based on three events, two to be staged in 2023 and the last one in 2024. Usually one team per country worldwide can participate, but countries who have many teams can send up to three teams.

The first 10 nations worldwide will secure their place in the 2024 Olympic Games to be staged in Paris.