Julien Bontemps (FRA) has popped back to the top of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings following his second place finish at the Mistral European Championships, held in Poland recently, replacing Ukraine sailor Maxim Oberemko at the top, who finished a place behind him in Poland.

Nick Dempsey has moved up into third position from fifth, with Nicolas Huguet (FRA) and European Champion Przemek Miarczynski (POL) dropping to fourth and fifth respectively. With the exception of Huguet, all of the top five will represent their nation in Athens in August and will most definitely be some of the ones to watch.

Greece's likely representative, who in the last 12 months has opted to concentrate his training on a personal level, cannot be discounted when it comes to possible medal winners in Athens. Nicos Kaklamanakis, currently sits 17 in the rankings and has dropped since the last release in June. However, at the last few top class events he competed in, he has finished close to, if not at the top of the results. Coupled with those achievements, he has won both the 2004 and the 2003 test events and clearly knows the sailing area well.

In the Women's fleet, Faustine Merret (FRA) completes the current dominance of Olympic Windsurfing by the French and it is a position she has held for the last couple of months. Natasha Sturges, the Aussie turned Brit, has popped up into second place, replacing Romy Kinzl (GER), who has dropped to fifth. European Champion, Lise Vidal (FRA), who will not be representing France in Athens, is currently sixth in the rankings.

2004 World Champion and 2000 Olympic Gold medallist Alessandra Sensini (ITA) has stated her intentions in Athens with a jump from 14 in the rankings to third following her fourth place finish at the European Championships in Poland. Meanwhile, another big mover within the top twenty, Australia's Jessica Crisp, her sixth place in Poland giving her the maximum number of events to include in the rankings, will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with in August. She finished fifth in Sydney and is looking good for Athens.

Another big mover is Spain's Blanca Manchon. Since finishing second at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Lunenberg in Canada in 2002, she has upped her game to Olympic level and her nation's hopes will be upon her in Athens in August. She finished second at the Europeans in Poland and looks all set to perform in the big one in August.