ViaCon Group has many hidden sports talents - Stefan Nordström, our Chairman of the Board of Directors, is one of them.
He came second during the Laser Master World Championships 2019. We’ve asked him to tell us a few words about his passion. Feel invited to read:
"Every year there is a Laser Master World Championships which is open for all sailors from the age of 35 given a selection from each National team. The Laser is since 1996 one of the Olympic classes in sailing and is a very demanding and physical one-man boat to race, especially in strong winds.
To eliminate the physical prerequisites between younger and older sailors and time since you were an elite sailor, the racing is divided into age groups with 10 years separating them.
The Laser Master World Championships attracts many former elite sailors from several different types of boats with many medals from the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, National Championships etc and in total 306 sailors participated this year. For former elite sailors, the annual Laser Master World Championships is one of the top arenas to still race and compete like in the former days. The age group of 55-64 year olds, where I participated this year, has the highest concentration of former Olympic and World Champions and around 60 sailors participated in this group this year.
The racing this year was very demanding with difficult and changing wind conditions. After five days and 9 races I was in third place with one point to the silver position. This made the racing on the sixth and final day very competitive and testing and after two nail-biting races on Saturday Sep 14, I managed to move up one position to take the Silver."
Pictures taken from the official website: http://2019-masters.laser-worlds.com/media/