125th Kieler Woche: Hunger before new record, Kröger dominates, 29ers impress

When the head of organisation of the world's biggest regatta week can be happy about the best conditions for the third day in a row, then things are going well. And Dirk Ramhorst confirmed this on Monday evening: "Once again, we sailed almost everything we could. There was a little less wind than forecast and the waves were a bit strong. But so far, expectations have been exceeded."

Which also applies to the expectations of Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess. Of course, the 505 stars had wanted to fight for the Kiel Week victory and raise Hunger's own record to 22 titles. However, it was not to be expected that this would work out so easily. But now the 58-year-old Kieler Woche king Hunger is actually on the verge of triumph. Together with Holger Jess from Eckernförde, Hunger has not taken a completely unassailable lead ahead of Tuesday's final, but has secured a comfortable advantage. The task is manageable for the North German duo: In the remaining two races they have to finish tenth at least once - then they will have secured their eighth Kiel Week gold together.

Paralympics winner Heiko Kröger has also put himself in a strong position in the sunny weather off Kiel: the 2.4mR champion has sailed to seven wins, one second and one third place in nine races so far. The helmsman from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein dominates the fleet and will compete in his final race on Tuesday. Kalle Dehler is in second place, while Antti Kokkala from Finland is third with two races to go.

Jan Kurfeld from Wismar, on the other hand, lost ground on the third day of the regatta and slipped back to third place after retiring from the race. This means that the European Championship title is now almost out of reach for the Swedish Starboat Olympic champion Freddy Lööf, who is in a commanding lead. The Ammersee crew Jonas Schupp (Diessner Segel-Club) and Moritz Hagenmeyer are leading the junior 29er class at the Euro Cup, which has an outstanding field of 118 teams. The impressive fleet of the little sisters of the 49er, for which the first starting shots will be fired on Wednesday along with all the other Olympic disciplines, is one of the highlights of the first half of Kiel Week, which ends on Tuesday, both in terms of content and appearance. Schupp/Hagenmeyer will also represent the German colours at both Youth Worlds and seem to be well prepared for this.

Here to see all the results.