Sebastian Kördel has never experienced a day like this before. After the windsurfing world champion had, as expected, claimed three commanding victories within an hour and a half the previous day, the 32-year-old from the German Sailing Team was brutally thwarted on Tuesday. The champion from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein got stuck in the doldrums and seaweed at the start of both Tuesday races and abandoned the heats.
"Like many others, I got stuck," said the 2024 Olympic hopeful, who was in sixth place before the final rounds, and continued: "Today was like snowboarding without snow, like high diving without water or a Formula 1 race without petrol. But if there is the forecast wind tomorrow, everything is still possible. Then I can still bring it home."
Sebastian Kördel still has a chance of winning
In the Olympic format of the iQFoil competitors, the winner of the main round qualifies directly for the final, while second and third place go straight through to the semi-finals. Kördel's young club mate Fabian Wolf surfed directly into the semi-finals of the new Olympic windsurfers as runner-up in the main round. Sebastian Kördel will have to compete against his rivals in fourth to tenth place in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals.
Germany's best duos have positioned themselves for a thrilling medal race in the 470 mixed. Theres Dahnke/Matti Cipra (Plauer Wassersportverein) are in the lead ahead of the defending champions Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/NRV) and Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) in the double scored medal race. The top three crews are separated by just two points. Fourth-placed world champions Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (NRV/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) no longer have a chance of winning despite their recent good recovery.
From foresailor to helmsman: Fabian Rieger's new Olympic approach
Even the Olympic bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer can no longer win Kiel Week. The catamaran experts from Kiel are in third place in their weak field of only twelve Olympic foilers ahead of the final and can still move up to second place at most. The KYC crew Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer struggled with the light winds in their "living room", which also tested the nerves of the best Nacra 17 crews at this Kiel Week.
In the 49er, Fabian Rieger and Tom Heinrich (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Kieler Yacht-Club) will start from fourth place in the final and, in the best-case scenario, can still move up to second place in the double scored medal race on Wednesday. The performance marks a good success for the duo. In 2018, Fabian Rieger, then still sailing under his own name Fabian Graf, sailed to World Championship bronze in Aarhus, Denmark, as Tim Fischer's co-skipper. When Fischer ended his career, Fabian Rieger switched to the helmsman position and started a new Olympic campaign with Tom Heinrich. Now the 49er forwards are getting better and better.
Unusual Kiel Week leaders in the 49er FX
With a race win in the last race of the main round, Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger also catapulted themselves into the 49er final at the last minute, in which two Polish crews, Lukas Przybytek/Jacek Piasecki and Dominik Buksak/Szymon Wierzbicki, will be battling it out for victory.
The classification in the 49er FX of the Olympic skiff sailors looks unusual before the final, as the young brothers Anton and Johann Sach from the Lübeck Yacht Club are leading the female field in the medal race. On their way to the Olympic 49er, the 15 and 18-year-old offspring of the Sach sailing family will first sail the Olympic skiff with the smaller rig.
MSC crew on course for Kiel Week medal
In second place in the 49er FX field after just six races, Marla Bergmann/Hanna Wille, who have qualified for the Olympic test regatta in Marseille and are just one point behind Anton and Johann Sach, will be piling on the pressure on Wednesday to bring the 49er FX women to the top after all. The crew from Mühlenberger Segel-Club have their sights set on competing in the 2024 Olympic Games and have put all other commitments on hold until next summer. Four other crews from the German Sailing Team have also reached the final.
In Ilca 6, Julia Büsselberg from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club and Pia Kuhlmann from the Schaumburg-Lippischer Seglerverein qualified in eighth and tenth place for the final of the best ten women helmsmen in the Olympic one-man dinghy. Sailing in the Ilca 7 continued until after 8.30 pm on Tuesday evening. With Justin Barth from the Berlin Yacht Club, local hero Ole Schweckendiek from the Kiel Yacht Club and Nik Aaron Willim from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, three DSV helmsmen will be competing in the medal race on Wednesday. In third and fifth place, Barth and Schweckendiek still have a chance of a podium finish.
