Cypriot sailor Pavlos Kontides clinched the silver medal in the ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship which wrapped up on Sunday in Mexico.

The silver medallist in the 2012 Olympics entered the championship’s Gold fleet’s final day in the third slot and with one fifth and one twelfth position, later passing New Zealand’s Thomas Saunders to secure second spot with 68 points trailing France’s Jean Baptist Bernaz and in front of Croatia’s Filip Jurisic with 75 points.

Jurisic was among Kontides’ training partners, completing their preparation in Cyprus last December along with other top-class sailors.

The silver medal in Mexico is Kontides’ third medal in a world championship after the consecutive golds in 2017 and 2018. This medal comes after his victory in the Hyeres World Cup confirming his No1 ranking.

It was a very difficult race, under very demanding conditions, Kontides said as he was given his medal.

“On the first day of the finals I had two ugly races, it cost me. Even if one were better, I would have been in the game for gold,” he added.

“Now is the time to rest and then the second leg of the year begins with preparation in important cities such as The Hague and Marseille and the Pan-European in November,” Kontidis said.