128th Kiel Week: Olympic sailors before the final weekend: A north-south duo and two married couples strong in the 470 Mixed

The Olympic sailors are heading for their final weekend at the 128th Kieler Woche. In the Olympic half, the members of the national sailing team have maintained their chances of winning titles or making the podium in almost all classes ahead of the last two days of racing. In the new Olympic discipline 470 Mixed, two GER teams are in the top three: Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) lead the field by three points ahead of their married team-mates Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (NRV/Schweriner Yacht-Club) and the Swedish Olympic silver medallist Anton Dahlberg with his wife Lovisa Karlsson. Luise Wanser said after two weaker results and a win on Friday despite leading the race: "We made two stupid mistakes. That's annoying, because if you can win one race, you could have won all three."

In addition to the two current top German crews at Kiel Week, other promising teams are making the new 470 mixed group in the German Sailing Team strong: Simon Diesch (Württembergischer Yacht-Club) and Anna Markfort (VSaW/JSC) are competing in their first regatta together. They want to find out whether they can start a joint Olympic campaign for 2024 and are showing great promise with sixth place two days before the decisions in the Olympic part of Kiel Week. Theres Dahnke/Matti Cipra (Plauer Wassersportverein) and other crews also belong to the group of Olympic ambitionaries. If competition revitalises business, then the 470, which has returned to the limelight after a long dry spell, could regain its former role as the German Sailing Association's Olympic showpiece discipline with the attractive mixed teams. "The competition is fun," said Luise Wanser, who has never won a Kiel Week, before the final.

An unusual duo took the lead in the women's Olympic 49er FX on Friday evening: NRV talent Sophie Steinlein sailed in the open fleet with Olympic 49er bronze medallist Thomas Plößel. Plößel's helmsman Erik Heil was unable to attend the home match due to his studies and is currently working in hospital and studying. Plößel is keeping fit for his World Championship comeback with Heil in August with the mixed team. The doubles bronze medallists are considering a third Olympic appearance. Instead, Plößel is fuelling up on sailing the smaller 49er sister 49er FX with Sophie Steinlein at the Kieler Woche. "Speed was our friend today," said the experienced 34-year-old with a smile after the races in ideal sailing conditions. While Sophie Steinlein was able to learn "a lot, a lot" from Plößel, she herself saved her team from having to retire from the race because, unlike Plößel, she had realised that the course had not yet been sailed when Plößel was already striving towards the finish. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke were in sixth place in the 49er FX with two races to go in their farewell to Olympic sailing and kept their chance of a top-three finish alive.

The iQFoil windsurfing disciplines for men and women were led by NRV aces Sebastian Kördel and Lena Erdil on Friday. Kördel, who was outstanding in his small field, managed nine consecutive victories in the first nine races. In the Ilca 7, Nik Aaron Willim also kept his chance of a first Kiel Week title alive in fourth place. Julia Büsselberg will be attacking from the same position as Willim in the Ilca 6 fleet this weekend. The Italian Olympic champions Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti dominate the Nacra 17. The Kiel bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer are still working on getting back to the top after the helmsman's maternity leave in tenth place.

Seebahn: Some come, others go

On the sea course, however, the very different races merge directly into one another. While the double-handed crews finished their Senate Prize with the return race from the Schlei, the starters for the Silver Ribbon were preparing for the night race through Danish waters.

The second part of the Senate Prize became a real Kiel Week lighthouse event: Ralf Paulsen's race officer team set the course between two landmarks: It went from the green and white tower of Schleimünde to the red and white Kiel lighthouse. After around two hours, Steffen Müller's "Almost Nothing" (Wrist) had sailed the course and won both Senate Prize races in ORC I+II. In the group of small yachts (ORC III+IV), the "Astarte" of Klaus Ricklefs/Arne Rosenkranz (Kiel) was able to take the overall lead by winning the second race. Olav and Finn Jansen (Kiel) were the best crew in the yardstick classification, winning the outward and return races on the "Norna".

After crossing the finish line, the race organisers were already looking at the course for the Silver Riband. Due to the current situation in the Great Belt, the decision was made in favour of an anti-clockwise course, first past Langeland, then turning off and finally through Svendborg Sound in a wide arc to Kiel. The 116 nautical miles are thus marked out. The time limit was extended to 39 hours due to the expected lulls.