Kiel Week: Capsized in the title fight

Kieler Woche record winner Wolfgang Hunger has missed out on his 22nd title. In the final race on Tuesday, the 505 helmsman, who was previously in third place overall, risked too much and lost everything. After a risky start, the seven-time world champion and his co-skipper Julien Kleiner capsized during their aggressive chase upwind, abandoned the race and returned to harbour. The botched final sprint even cost Hunger a place on the podium - in the end, the veteran "only" managed fourth place. The Kieler Woche victory was secured by the Australian class president Michael Quirk with Hunger's former regular skipper Holger Jess in the boat. The Eckernförde boat builder reported on the high tension in the final race: "Five crews were still able to win. It was really close. We were the fastest boat and sailed smartly."

The first international half of the world's largest regatta series came to an end on Tuesday evening with the final races in 13 classes. German sailors won seven Kieler Woche titles. In total, crews from six nations claimed victories at Kiel Week, which gave its participants and visitors a magnificent fireworks display over Schilksee at half-time after emotional moments at the awards ceremony for the winners and runners-up in the Audi Sailing Arena.

While the "Big Boats" continue their Baltic Pre-Worlds on the fjord, the national sailing team will also enter the series on Wednesday with the start of the second Olympic half of Kiel Week. With the first starts on Wednesday, the excitement of Kiel Week continues to build. With four international and eight Olympic classes, the Eurosaf Para Sailing European Championships in two disciplines and the Laser Radial Dinghy World Championship, world-class athletes will be battling for victory off Kiel in the second half.

"There are two particularly important days at an event like this: the first and the last day. The first one didn't work out so well with the difficult wind, but on the last one we had almost perfect conditions," said organisation manager Dirk Ramhorst, describing the first half of the event. It was particularly challenging for the sailors on the courses off Eckernförde Bay with high waves and strong winds. Overall, all classes sailed a full programme so that Kiel Week can start its second half with a lot of momentum."

All results of the classes in the international half of Kiel Week and also the intermediate results of the Baltic Pre-Worlds can be found at here.