Lily Young is confident that her performance at the 2024 Formula Kite Europeans is the boost she needs ahead of the upcoming Worlds.
The 25-year-old from Weymouth finished sixth in Mar Menor, Spain, narrowly failing to match her fourth-place finish at last year's event.
But the kiteboarder expressed her pride following a challenging week chasing a strong French team through tough conditions.
"I was really happy with how I sailed the whole week," she said.
"It was really tough and the French girls brought their A game.
"It was their Olympic trials so I wouldn't expect anything less than that to be honest, but it did make it quite challenging as they were untouchable throughout the week.
"They just had really great speeds and I knew the semi-finals was going to be quite tough as I had to beat Jessie (Kampman) but I did my best job and defended the rest of the girls off by a second.
"So I kept my finishing spot for the week and I was pretty happy with it."
Young came into the championships off the back of a six month training block and eyeing up the opportunity to practice those key skills that only come through racing 60 boats in a fleet.
"My main outcome event this year is the World Championships in two months time, so I was really focusing on some process goals like starting and my tactical elements ahead of that," she said.
"But obviously the added pressure of it being a Europeans just makes it a little bit harder.
"We haven't raced anyone for about six months since the last Europeans so it was nice to have a little check in to see what changes we can make for the final push before the Worlds and Olympics this summer."
Young was one of three British boats in the top 10 in Spain, with Paris 2024-bound Ellie Aldridge clinching fifth and Katie Dabson finishing ninth, while Maddy Anderson wrapped up the British contingent in 13th.
"I think we were a little disappointed and hungrier to push for more," Dabson added.
"The French really dominated and I think we would have liked to have one or two of us in the top three.
"It's something we're definitely taking away and I'm going to work on that and see what we can do to catch up to them again."
Follow the British Sailing Team on Instagram at @britishsailing
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