France's Côme Vic-Molinero and Fatima Tia applied pressure on Lorenzo Sirena and Alice Dessy in the Nacra 15 class on the second day of racing at the Youth Sailing World Championships.
The French pair secured two statement bullets on Lake Garda to finish level on points with the opening day's leaders.
Elsewhere, the duel continued between Carola Colasanto and Darcey Shaw in the women's iQFOiL as Federico Pilloni maintained his lead in the men's.
And Danai Giannouli and Iakovina Kerkezou are the women's 420 crew to beat after recording another bullet in the final race of the day.
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 15
Vic-Molinero and Tia finished level on nine points with Sirena and Dessy after six races following a gutsy showing on Italy's largest lake.
Three solid performances saw them close the host nation's lead at the top.
Elohim Bouregba-Vitrac and Mehiti Bax De Keating secured Tahiti's first win of the Championships in the second race and capped off an encouraging day to finish on 29 points.
“The conditions were a bit funny but it was a good contest with the other nations,” Vic-Molinero said.
“The wind was very strong so we managed to get through it and we arrived to take the win. It's all good.”
Windsurfing – Youth iQFOiL
It was almost another flawless showing for Italy's Colasanto, who earned three bullets out of four races in the women's iQFOiL.
She faced off with Great Britain's Shaw for the first time following Monday's heats with the Brit winning the third race of the day as Colasanto settled for fourth.
Fellow Italian Federico Pilloni kept his cool and his nose in front in men's IQFOiL as conditions helped him cruise to another two bullets.
Building on his lead, Pilloni won the first race of the day before falling to fifth in the second but then romped to win and place third to finish on 12 points.
French star Noé Garandeau sits 15 points behind in second after his success in race six as Val Erzen slipped to ninth despite securing a win in the final race of the day.
“It was my first bullet of the day the other races didn't go well,” Erzen said. “This bullet was a good one so it will make my day better.”
“Consistency is important, you need to stay focused all the time.”
Dinghy – 420
Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio of Italy maintained their lead in the men's/mixed 420 fleet despite an uncharacteristic 14th-place finish in the final race of the day.
France's Colin Postel and Théo Henry won that race and are hot on the heels of the home nation on nine points, just five points behind the leaders.
In the women's 420, Mara Samaržija and Sara Vuletic stormed to claim a brilliant bullet in their opening race of the day while a third-place finish in race four saw them climb up the standings to sixth overall.
Greek pair Giannouli and Kerkezou remain the crew to beat following another triumph in the final race of the day.
Another consistent day saw them finish on four points and open up a seven-point lead on Italy's Margherita Pillan and Giulia Massari in second.
Skiff – 29er
In the women's skiff, Ireland's Clementine Van Steenberge and Jessica Riordan got off to the perfect start in race three and sit in second place overall going into Wednesday.
The race standings chopped and changed throughout the day as no teams finished inside the top five in windy conditions across all three races.
Annabelle Vines and Amelie Hiscocks of Great Britain hold a two-point lead on the rest of the fleet going into day three as day one leaders Malena Rüegge and Liv Wicki of Switzerland were displaced from top spot to fourth.
In the men's/mixed 29er, Poland's Ewa Lewandowska and Krzysztof Królik matched Monday's marvellous racing and rocketed to another two bullets with a 1, 2, 1 standout performance.
Great Britain's Finian Morris and Charlie Gran are closest to the leaders on 18 points, 12 points behind the Polish duo.
Formula Kite
Lucas Pes Fonseca defended his lead in the men's Formula Kite despite a shaky fourth-placed result in race six
The Brazilian, and Swiss talent Gian Andrea Stragiotti, repeated their exploits from Monday into Tuesday's racing and sit perched as the top two ahead of France's Nell De Jaham and China's Jiayi Tian in third and fourth.
It was a similar story in the women's kiteboarding as Maria Catalina Turienzo stunned the fleet once again with another four bullets in four races.
Her perfect record sees her extend her lead at the top of the standings to three points ahead of China's Meijing Xiao and 2023 champion Türkiye's Derin Atakan.
Atakan advanced on four third-place finishes to grab two points ahead of Xiao but the standings remain unchanged from Monday's opener.
Dinghy – ILCA 6
Alina Shapovalova and Italy's Maria Vittoria Arseni secured a bullet each in the women's ILCA 6 but the Ukrainian remains the sailor to beat with a two-point cushion.
Spain's Adriana Castro Nuñez completed the top three as yesterday's leader Hermionie Ghicas of Greece recorded eighth and 10th in her two races to fall to fourth.
In the men's dinghy, Italy's Antonio Pascali was the most consistent to take up the top spot as Anders Bultynck of Belgium found his rhythm again to grab a bullet in the last race of the day to finish in second overall.
All results of 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships can be found here.
Text Credits: World sailing
Photo Credits: Martina Orsini
Video Credits: AALVAA production
Media Project by FIV
