Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman are the new and shining world champions in the 470 class. In the most important year, the Olympic year, the Catalan crew has brought out their best at a crucial moment.
After coming close in the previous two World Championships, where they were runners-up in Sdot Yam (Israel) and in The Hague (Netherlands), they have finally clinched their first gold, and moreover, at home, in S’Arenal (Mallorca). In S’Arenal, they remained close to the podium throughout the championship, until on the penultimate day they made the final assault on the lead by surpassing the Japanese and German crews, who had been the dominant forces until then. This allowed them to enter the final day with a nine-point lead over the British duo Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube, and sixteen points ahead of the Japanese pair Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka.
Only the Medal Race remained to determine the color of the medal for Xammar and Brugman, who already had the bronze secured. However, a strong sea storm and winds of over 20 knots with gusts of 30 made it impossible to hold the Medal Race, so the results were valid after the eleven races held throughout the week.
From a young age, Jordi Xammar showed that he had a special talent. He was already a three-time Spanish Optimist champion and stood out in the 420 class alongside Joan Herp – his partner in Rio 2016 – becoming world champions in the 470 youth category, but the senior title eluded him. Since 2018, he has not stepped off the podium at a World Championship, silver in 2019, 2022, and 2023, and bronze in 2018 and 2021. First with Nico Rodríguez, with whom he won Olympic bronze in Tokyo 2020, and from then on, with the transition to the Mixed 470, he has succeeded with Nora Brugman. And always, since he was a child, his parents Pere Xammar and Cristina Hernández, have been there as his great support.
Their story began after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when Nora Brugman received a call from Jordi. They had known each other all their lives and are only a few months apart in age, Nora is from ’92 and Jordi from ’93, so they coincided in their stages in children’s and youth categories such as Optimist and 420.
Nora is the daughter of Daniel Brugman, an American ice hockey player, who came to Spain to play for CH Puigcerdà, and Mercè Cabot, a competitive skier. Her dual nationality allowed her and her sister Atlantic to compete in two Olympic campaigns, Rio with Spain and Tokyo with the United States, but they couldn’t secure a spot in either. In this third campaign with Xammar, again with Spain, she has won almost everything, now they only lack the European title and Olympic gold.
The last success of this magnitude in the 470 class was achieved by Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero, who were crowned world champions in 2021 in Vilamoura (Portugal). Before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Xammar and Brugman will have the Princess Sofía Iberostar Trophy ahead of them, in these same waters where they have now won the World Championship, and in May, the 470 European Championship in Cannes (France), which, if achieved, would put them in a position to win the triple in the same year (Olympic gold, world, and European titles), a feat that only Theresa Zabell and Patricia Guerra have accomplished in Spain, also in the 470 class.
En español: Campeones del Mundo a tan solo medio año para Paris 2024
