The tussle for top places between Malta and Sweden in this third edition of the Euromed Championships continued yesterday with the two Maltese boys still leading on the Swedes who are right behind them in the Optimist class.

Matthew Fleri Soler maintained his lead in the Optimist class after he won the first race held in strong North-North East Force 4 winds that was constantly shifting.

Fleri Soler (14) was followed by another Maltese, Christoph Podesta (13), and Sweden's Lisa Ericson (14).

In the second and third races, the conditions began to slacken and fell to Force 3 (and later to Force 2) with the wind direction turning to North East. This meant less wind (so, obviously, less power for the boats) to overcome the waves that remained.

Ericson topped race two ahead of Simon Psaila (13) and Rebecka Harding (14). Then Ben Borg crossed the line first in race three ahead of Fleri Soler and Ericson.

In the overall standings, Fleri Soler is followed closely by Borg, Ericson, Harding, Podesta, Simon Psaila and Karl Cremona. There are 35 participants in this class.

In the Laser Standard class, John Tabone continued to register generally slightly better times than Adrian Gauci Borda and Neil Borg, winner of two races yesterday, such that they again occupied the top three positions in this class respectively, ahead of James Xuereb, David Dalli and Warren Muscat.

Six wins for Valentino

In the Laser Radial class, it was Peter Valentino who again continued to prove his mettle by winning yet again. In fact he has placed first in all six races of this class so far to strenghten his lead.

The championships resume today.