128th Kiel Week: Sailing summer fairytale with a golden finale: Simon Diesch: "That was a wonderful Kiel Week!"

What a party! The 128th Kiel Week not only far exceeded the lowered expectations of the past two corona years, but also opened up completely new perspectives for many participants. The world's largest nine-day sailing series came to a rousing end on Sunday. Many outstanding performances, personalities, good losers and the picture-book weather all contributed to this. The medal finals of the Olympic sailors were almost cancelled. However, with the exception of the showdown between the iQFoil windsurfers, they were able to take to the course at the last minute with the wind co-operating again and offered another exciting farewell sailing event.

Most of the approximately 4,000 participants will remember this Kiel Week as a summer sailing fairytale. The regatta series, which was often spoilt by sun and wind, came to an end on Sunday with three German victories in the Olympic boat classes. Two German boats and iQFoil windsurfer Lena Erdil won in the eight Olympic Kiel Week disciplines. In the 470 Mixed, the married couple Malte and Anastasiya Winkel from Kiel came out on top ahead of Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee), who had only just got off the mark. The multi-day leaders Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (Hamburg/Augsburg) dropped off the podium with tenth place in the medal race, tied on points with the third-placed Swedes Dahlberg/Karlosson, and finished fourth.

It was the first Kieler Woche victory in the careers of both Malte Winkel and his Ukrainian-born wife and foresailor Anastasiya Winkel. "It's wonderful that we were able to win it together," said a delighted Anastasiya Winkel. The kiss she gave her (helmsman) husband after crossing the finish line testified to her great joy. Second-placed Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort were also beaming. They only got together after Markfort called Diesch in April and are currently sounding out whether they want to start an Olympic campaign together. "It couldn't be better," commented Markfort on her crew's performance after the Kiel final, "I'm ready to go." Helmsman Diesch, son and nephew of FD Olympic champions Eckart and Jörg Diesch (1976), was also delighted: "That was a wonderful, fantastically beautiful Kiel Week." The comeback of Germany's former favourite discipline, the 470, in which great successes have become rare in recent years, seems to be starting in the mixed constellation, which will be an Olympic event from 2024. At Kiel Week, the mixed 470 doubles sailed into the limelight in an attractive manner. Luise Wanser admitted that fourth place was a little painful for her and co-skipper Philipp Autenrieth for the moment, but proved to be a good "loser" and ambassador for the German Sailing Team's up-and-coming 470 mixed group. She said: "Perhaps it is new for Sailing Germany that we all get on so well despite the competitive situation. But we have a common interest in sailing Germany winning gold in the 470 at the Olympics. That is the goal."

With mostly beautiful sailing conditions, the few thunderstorms and lulls did not hurt the sailors from 49 nations very much. The organisers and their approximately 400 helpers were able to bring 326 races to the finish line in the international first half, on the sea courses and in the Olympic final sprint. Kieler Woche organisation manager Dirk Ramhorst said: "We have heard from many international participants that Kieler Woche was great cinema for them. For example from the Argentinian Olympic champion Santi Lange. I am satisfied. We wanted to bring the visitors from the city to the sailors and the sailing on land to the people. The mixture of sailing and public festival was a great success."

Windsurfer Sebastian Kördel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein was one of the top performers in the national sailing team at the second Kieler Woche appearance of the iQFoil aces. He dominated the still small field with nine victories in nine races up to the final, and was honoured with the coveted Kiel Week Emperor's Cup for the most daily victories. The fact that he still didn't win Kiel Week with this exceptional performance is due to the iQFoiler racing format, which is geared towards suspense right up to the end. In contrast to classic Olympic sailing, the final alone decides the final results, rather than the preliminary performances in the preliminary and main rounds. In the final, of all places, Kördel was beaten once by Ethan Westera from Aruba, who had previously held him in check for days. Kördel took it with humour, even though as the defending champion he was probably secretly annoyed about the missed opportunity: "The format is good and exciting for the spectators. The athlete sometimes falls by the wayside."

In the Olympic single-handed disciplines, Nik Aaron Willim from Schleswig came fourth in the Ilca 7 in the absence of world champion Philipp Buhl. Julia Büsselberg from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club came fifth in the Ilca 6. Sophie Steinlein and Thomas Plößel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein took the third German Kieler Woche victory in the Olympic half. Because the 49er FX junior helmswoman's foresailor was ill, she spontaneously asked two-time Olympic 49er bronze medallist Thomas Plößel if he would sail with her. And he agreed, taking the opportunity to keep himself fit for the 49er World Championship in Halifax in late summer while his helmsman Erik Heil was away studying. The unlikely duo surprisingly came out on top in the open Olympic women's 49er FX discipline. Steinlein and Plößel also exceeded their own expectations with this coup. Plößel said: "I had good coaching in mind for Sophie and would have thought a place in the top ten would have been cool. We didn't expect to win. That was fun."

After 15 years in the same boat, Olympic silver medallists Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke bid farewell to their favourite regatta and their favourite sailing area with seventh place in the 49er FX. Here, where it all began, they drew the line under their joint Olympic career. Arm in arm, they were celebrated by family and fans on the water with posters and loud cheers after crossing the finish line. Lutz said: "Kiel presented itself from its best side. That was simply awesome."

The Olympic Nacra 17 bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer paid tribute to the helmsman's six-week maternity leave during their Kiel Week outing. Paul Kohlhoff, who celebrated his 27th birthday on his home waters of Kiel on the final day, became a father for the first time in May. With a furious race, third place in the medal final and eighth place in the overall standings, he gave himself a conciliatory finish for his day of honour at his home race off Kiel. Victory in the Nacra 17 was secured by Italian Olympic champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti. The other four international victories in the Olympic classes were shared by Finland in the Ilca 7, Australia in the Ilca 6, Great Britain in the 49er and Aruba in the men's iQFoil.

Parallel to the Olympic sailing, other classes and the sea sailors celebrated their latest winners. The Aco-Musto-Skiff World Championship was won by Rick Peacock from Great Britain ahead of Andy Tarboton from South Africa and Peter Greenhalgh from England.

Silver Ribbon: Sailing action even without much wind

During the long-distance race for the Silver Ribbon at Kiel Week, the yacht crews experienced a night full of nervous tension with anxious glances at the instruments to see if there was any speed left in the boat. This was followed by a day of constant searching for the winning wind line. All in all, it was a race around Langeland and around the clock with countless manoeuvres and sail changes, but little sleep. The almost 120 nautical mile course from Kiel to the Danish South Sea and back turned into a marathon that not everyone managed to complete: Of the 30 yachts originally registered, 22 crossed the start line and 16 crossed the finish line. The largest group at the finish, the ORC II, was won by Marie-Ivonne Otisi-Schaarschmidt's "Surprise" from Eckernförde - ahead of Thomas Reinecke's "Edelweiss" (Hamburg), which managed to come in second despite numerous absences due to illness, with many substitutes and an unrehearsed crew. "Surprise" skipper Leon Kirchberg was happily exhausted on land: "The light wind was a problem for all the crews. We benefited from the fact that we are a young team in which everyone wanted to bite. No-one was too shy to keep changing sails and giving it their all. We went up and down the whole range of the sailing wardrobe. On average, we had maybe one and a half hours of sleep - from the boatman to the owner."

Of course, luck is also part of it. While the "Surprise" made it through the Svendborg Sound under gennaker, others had to tack upwind. The reward was a long, close battle with the "X-Day" (Walter Watermann/Dortmund) from the group of fast yachts, which was able to pull away in the end and win the ORC I group. In ORC III + IV, the crew of four on Dirk Tschierschke's Dehler 30 od "Play Harder" lived up to their boat's name and were the only ones in their group to finish. Kalle Dehler, a prominent crew member, was also delighted: "A Dehler can also handle light winds," he said, beaming. The other winners in the Silver Ribbon: Jens Dwinger's "Dwinger 2.0" from Strande won the ORC Doublehanded division. In the Yardstick fleet, Rüdiger Fuchs' Hanse 400e "Carlotta" was the fastest. Jens Peter Weissmann's Dehler 38 "Colombine" won the Yardstick Doublehanded classification. Click here for all Kiel Week results (please click!).