Cypriot yachtsman became European champion

Pavlos Kontidis won the European title on November 21. The Cypriot athlete beat last year’s leader Mickey Beckett in the 2022 season.

World’s best in his class

The Hyeres Pan European Laser Championship was held in Hyeres, France. Pavlos Kontidis finished third. But it was him who was at the first place of the final standings according to the total amount of points. This is Kontidis’ second big win of the current year. In April he managed to win the world title. Having now won gold at the European Championships, in his last race of 2022, he became the best yachtsman in the world competing in the Laser class.

Four-time World Champion

Pavlos Kontidis has been world champion four times: in Melbourne in 2016, in Yeer in 2017, on Enosim in 2019, again in Yeer in 2022. In 2012 he won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in London, becoming the first and so far the only Cypriot athlete to have a place on the Olympic podium. In 2018 he won the title of European champion in La Rochelle, France, repeating this achievement at the race in Jere this year.

The current competition was not easy.

The race in Hyères, the last race of the current season for the Laser Class yachts, started last Wednesday, November 16, and was particularly intense. It included twelve races. Contides confidently placed in the top ten and had been in the top three since November 18. On November 20, he was first in the standings.