A nervous stomach, a cautious start and a simple instruction to take the racing ‘boat by boat’ proved an unlikely recipe for a perfect opening day for Sweden’s Fia Fjelddahl at the World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Portimão, Portugal.
Fjelddahl and Patric Rosenberg began the Para Inclusive Two Person Keelboat competition with back-to-back victories in the RS Venture Connect, leaving them at the top of the standings after the opening two races.
The scoreline made it look straightforward. Fjelddahl’s account of their first race told a different story.
“We ended up being about 20 seconds late [to the start], so I thought the race was over,” she said.
“Then I just said, ‘OK, we go boat by boat, don’t think that we’re going to win the race. Just be a little bit quicker than everybody else and do the rounding of the marks really good.’ We went boat by boat by boat, and then on the last downwind we ended up winning the race.”
For Fjelddahl, though, the significance of the week reaches beyond the results sheet. A Rio 2016 Paralympian, she has seen first-hand how the sport has evolved in the decade since sailing last featured at the Games.
“This event is huge, and it’s so fun,” she said. “You see the sailors you’ve met for a long time, but you also meet new friends.”
“We want to be part of the Paralympic Games, but sailing is also such an inclusion sport that everybody can be part of it. We really showcase that 10 years after the Paralympics, we’re growing and we’re better than ever.”
That bigger picture thinking sits alongside a very personal ambition for the week. Fjelddahl and Rosenberg narrowly missed out on a medal at the previous World Championship in Oman after two OCS scores, and has spent the months since visualising what it would mean to make the podium this time.
“Since May I’ve been manifesting, as we say. I’ve been manifesting, feeling and dreaming about how it would feel to get a medal, to stand on a podium. That’s my ambition, to stand up there on the podium and have a medal.”
Behind the Swedish pair in the standings, Norway’s Stian Kristiansen and Elliot Finnestrand opened with a first and a third to sit second overall, while Spain’s Pau Toni Homar and Ramón Gutiérrez are third after adding a race win to a fourth place. Norway’s Solfrid Lindhjem Kvinnesland and Sam Erik Leikvang are level with the Spanish pair after a consistent 3-2 opening day.
For Portugal’s João Pinto, in the Para Inclusive One Person Keelboat event (Hansa 303) the championship brings a different kind of expectation. Racing on home waters and coming into the event as silver medallist from the previous World Championship, Pinto knows the local racecourse well but is determined not to get ahead of himself, in spite of a strong opening day with 1-3 on the scoreboard in the one person event following by 5-6-2 alongside Carlos Santos in the Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (Hansa 303).
“Today I had a good day. I’m a local, so the readings are different for me,” Pinto said. “The important thing is to start fast, try to keep your position up front and take no risks.”
The local knowledge does not make Portimão straightforward.
“These are very tricky conditions because of the current and the wind shifts and all of that, but it’s nice.”
And while Pinto makes no secret of wanting to win, he is keeping his focus deliberately short-term.
“Of course I want to win, of course,” he said. “I did well in the past, but this is now and we have to go day by day and see how things are going.”
Germany’s Jens Kroker is the early leader in the Para Inclusive One Person Keelboat, although is in a four-way tie on points at the top of the opening day standings with Pinto, France’s Gauthier Bril and Britain’s defending champion Rory McKinna.
In the two-person Hansa 303, Poland’s Piotr Cichocki-Joanna Cichocki secured the ideal start to their Championship with three race wins. They lead Oman’s Malik Al Qartoubi-Ghalya Al Jabri and the home hopes Santos-Pinto in second and third overall.
Across the other fleets, Britain’s Val Millward produced a stellar opening scoreline in the Para Inclusive One Person Multihull, winning both Challenger races. Fellow Briton Bex Foulsham sits second after scores of second and fourth, with India’s Deepak Dikhit third.
Great Britain was also quick out of the blocks in the Vision Impaired category - contesting a league fleet racing format in RS21s at this event – with two British teams topping the early standings.
Lucy Hodges, Jamie Tylecote, Liam Cattermole and Steve Tylecote (GBR 2) notched up the perfect scoreline with three out of three race wins, with Christina Morris, Ben Tylecote, Karl Haines and Colin Midgley (GBR 3) close behind with two wins and second. Spain – represented by Dani Anglada Pich, Carmen Lopez Garcia, Jordi Sánchez Pérez and Monica Azon Canalda – finish the opening day in overall third.
Inclusive Wingfoiling made its World Sailing Inclusion Championship debut today, with British rider Jazz Turner owning the day thanks to two race wins, while Finland’s One Person Technical Keelboat sailors have made early in-roads, occupying four of the top six positions in the 2.4mR fleet and with Marko Dahlberg in pole position.
Hong Kong’s Tsz Hin Cheung leads the Para Intellectual Impairment event, sailed in the ILCA 6, and Portugal’s Rodrigo Pereira tops the Inclusive Cognitive Impairment standings after day one.
The 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Portimão, Portugal, continues until Saturday 10 October, and is delivered in partnership with Vela Solidária, the Municipality of Portimão, and the Portuguese Sailing Federation with backing from The America’s Cup.