Photo: ACI d.d. / Ivica Kostelić
The most decorated Croatian skier, a celebrated Olympian, a great offshore sailor and one of the greatest Croatian athletes of all time won the Mediterranean Class40 championship aboard the ACI 40, called so in honour of ACI’s 40th anniversary
A winner is always a winner. Several years ago, Ivica Kostelić replaced ski tracks with sea waves; however, the winning spirit has remained the same. Sailing has become his new sports arena where he wins titles and makes sport history. The former skiing champion has been winning boat races, showing that his passion to win is still strong. His sailing career is a proof that talent and dedication are parts of the universal winning formula, regardless of the sport.
2023 was a great year; Kostelić clinched the Mediterranean championship title by coming second in the famous Palermo-Monte Carlo race, and his victory in the 44th edition of the iconic Rolex Middle Sea Race was the icing on the cake. And this happened on the sailing boat named ACI 40 in the year when the largest chain of marinas in the Mediterranean celebrated its 40th anniversary.
‘Ivica is indeed a prominent member of our sailing family; we are exceptionally proud of him and faithfully follow his every sailing adventure, whichever sea or ocean he might be sailing. His win in the Mediterranean Class40 championship, aboard the boat named ACI 40 at that, represents the absolute pinnacle of our celebratory year in which we marked ACI’s 40th anniversary. On behalf of our entire community, I can confirm that we couldn’t have received a more beautiful and symbolically more meaningful gift. On behalf of the Management Board of ACI and the entire chain of our marinas, I would like to congratulate Ivica from the bottom of our hearts and thank him for bringing our name and our national flag to the very top of the Mediterranean racing, confirming once more that that’s where we belong,’ said Kristijan Pavić, President of the Management Board of ACI.
For one of the best Croatian athletes in history, the last several years have been marked with extraordinary sailing results, and he has been pushing some boundaries as well: he has turned one of his greatest adventures, his participation in the iconic Jacques Vabre race, into a documentary film called Transat…
