Israeli Youth Sailing Duo Roy Levi and Ariel Gal Win Silver at 470 World Championship in Poland

Roy Levi and Ariel Gal, reigning youth world champions in the 470 sailing class, secured a silver medal at the Youth World Championship held in Gdynia, Poland. The competition featured 55 teams from 18 countries and concluded on July 17, 2026. The gold medal was decided by a tie-break after both the Israeli and Italian teams finished with identical points, with Italy narrowly winning by less than a boat length in the final race.

Throughout the event, Levi and Gal consistently led the fleet, placing fourth on the first day, second on the second day, and taking the lead on the third day with strong finishes despite unstable wind conditions. However, a disqualification at the start of the ninth race on the fourth day dropped them from first to third place, tied on points with the Italians and behind France.

Entering the final day and medal races, the Israeli team won the first medal race and started the last race ahead of Italy. To claim gold, they needed to finish within four boats of the Italians. In the decisive race, Italy surged ahead while Levi and Gal fell behind, finishing seventh, just half a boat length behind sixth place, which would have secured them the title. The tie-break rule awarded gold to Italy based on the last race results.

Ariel Gal reflected on the challenging week marked by race cancellations and disqualifications, emphasizing their consistency and pride in their performance. Roy Levi expressed satisfaction with their silver medal, highlighting their ability to channel pressure into positive energy and viewing the result as a significant improvement and motivation for future competitions.

Team coach Yam Amir noted that Levi and Gal entered as favorites but faced strong competition and difficult conditions. He praised their achievement and the bronze medal won by another Israeli team, Tehila Sidis and Amitai Levkovich, in the U21 category. The Israeli team also includes Maayan Shemesh and Ben Goldenberg, who finished 17th overall. Levi and Gal have a history of youth category success, including bronze in 2021, silver in 2022 and 2023, and European golds in 2024 and 2025. They continue to compete in senior events and will participate in the upcoming World Championship in Japan.