"You wanted excitement? We gave it to you!" - the first part of Kiel Week now in the video summary
Tatjana Pokorny
· 22.06.2023
It was a real sailing festival at the end of the first Olympic half of the 129th Kiel Week: after four days of light wind torments, race postponements and nerve poker, the Olympians experienced sailing conditions to savour in 14 to 20 knots of wind. This was particularly good for the medal races. The newly Olympic 470 Mixed, for example, was extremely exciting, with only two points separating the three leading teams before the final.
Diesch/Markfort win one year after the team was founded
Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) came out on top. Probably the heaviest crew among the best 470 mixed teams in the outstandingly strong German training group, they performed in an impressive manner on the course. Third place at the finish was enough for overall victory. "You wanted excitement? We gave it to you!" said foresailor Anna Markfort with a laugh after the races.
Shortly before Kiel Week last year, Anna Markfort and helmsman Simon Diesch arranged to take part in a joint test for a possible Olympic campaign. They came second at Kiel Week 2022. They decided to set their sights on the 2024 Olympics together. Simon Diesch also brings family experience to the boat: his uncle Jörg Diesch and his father Eckart Diesch won Olympic gold in the Flying Dutchman off Kingston in 1976.
We all sail at a world-class level and push each other to peak performance" (Anna Markfort)
One year after their decision, Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort are now sailing a promising course as European runners-up and Kiel Week winners. As members of the strongest international training community in the new Olympic discipline 470 Mixed, they also paid tribute to their team-mates. "We all sail at a world-class level and push each other to perform at our best. We want to do that right to the end. That's the strength of our training group. And that will be the advantage of the winners of the national qualification, which hopefully will be us," said Anna Markfort. "We are working to ensure that one of us gets the medal," said helmsman Diesch.
Theres Dahnke/Matti Cipra (Plauer Wassersportverein) took second place in the 470 mixed, while the defending champions Malte and Anastasiya Winkel came third. The sailing couple from Kiel compete for the Schweriner Yacht-Club and the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and will represent Germany at the pre-Olympic test regatta in Marseille at the beginning of July, where Olympic medals will be contested in 2024. The reigning world champions Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) narrowly missed out on the Kieler Woche podium in fourth place, but were able to finish the Kieler Woche with the good feeling of having won a medal race.
It was so beautiful, windy and fast today" (Sebastian Kördel)
Windsurfing world champion Sebastian Kördel raced to first place in a strong final sprint on medal Wednesday. The man from Radolfzell, who had been brutally slowed down in two races the day before by calm conditions and seaweed, put his words into action. "I can still win this," he announced - and catapulted himself into the final via the quarter and semi-finals. The 32-year-old from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein also clearly dominated the decisive heat of the best three iQFoil aces. After second place last year, the new Olympic iQFoil hopeful celebrated his second Kieler Woche triumph. "It was so beautiful, windy and fast today." His tally for this 129th Kiel Week is probably one of the most unusual: 1, 1, 1, DNC, DNC, 1, 1, 1.
Hamburg's Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from Mühlenberger Segel-Club also returned to the Olympic harbour in Kiel-Schilksee with beaming faces from the medal race. The sailors from the Elbe, who qualified for the Olympic test regatta, took the third German Kiel Week victory in the 49er FX. The high-flyers of the pre-Olympic year have put their studies on hold and are going "all in" for the Olympic Games.
Targeted collaboration in the 49er FX
Helmswoman Marla Bergmann said in Kiel: "It certainly wasn't ideal to start the Kiel Week with an early start. We had to be a bit more cautious afterwards. We took full risk in the final and had the best start." Just one point behind Bergmann/Wille, Maru Scheel and Freya Feilcke from the Kieler Yacht-Club finished their successful Kiel Week. Hanna Wille emphasised the good cooperation among the still young German 49er FX crews: "If we want to secure the national ticket for the 2024 Olympics, we have to work together, and that works very well. Our coach really encourages open dialogue."
There was a happy ending for the Olympic bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer from Kiel after a great struggle in the sometimes agonisingly light winds of the first half of the world's biggest sailing week. With their victory in the medal race, they moved up to second place behind the Italians Margherita Porro and Stefano Dezulian. The experienced catamaran experts were not satisfied in the small Kiel Week field without strong international competition. "But we still have a year to go until the Olympic Games and feel we are on a good course overall," said Paul Kohlhoff.
The aim is to cover all ten disciplines at the 2024 Olympics" (Nadine Stegenwalner)
This was also the view of DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner when asked whether the German Nacra 17 dominators might have lost touch: "I don't see that Paul and Alica have lost touch. The highlights of the year are the Olympic test regatta in Marseille and the Sailing World Championships in The Hague. Things have to be worked through beforehand." Paul Kohlhoff also remembers well that his crew achieved some good results in light winds at the Olympic regatta in Japan.
Stegenwalner sees the entire German Sailing Team on a good Olympic course: "From our point of view, German Olympic sailing is in a very good position. We were represented in six disciplines in Tokyo and are currently well represented in all ten disciplines. The aim is to compete in all ten disciplines at the 2024 Olympics."
Today was a brilliant day with imperial weather at its best" (Dirk Ramhorst)
The other four victories in the Olympic classes were shared by France, Turkey, Poland and Denmark. Dirk Ramhorst, Head of Sport at Kieler Woche, was happy with the interim results in bright sunshine and fresher winds on Wednesday: "Today was a brilliant day with the finest weather. These were great pictures that went around the world." Regarding the many cancellations and postponements on the first four days, Ramhorst said: "We could have stood there under the umbrella without any wind. Instead, we had the most beautiful summer weather. As organisers, we can only do the best we can with the weather we have."
In the 49er, Fabian Rieger/Tom Heinrich (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Kieler Yacht-Club) achieved the best German result with sixth place. As Tim Graf's 49er cox Fabian Rieger had already won World Championship bronze in Aarhus in 2018. When his helmsman ended his Olympic career, Fabian Rieger took over the tiller himself and started a new Olympic campaign with Tom Heinrich. The duo have now reaped the first rewards of their collaboration. Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger from the Bavarian Yacht Club came seventh on the Kiel Fjord.
Justin and Ole: Two young Ilca 7 helmsmen sail into the limelight
In the Olympic single-handed dinghy Ilca 7, Justin Barth from the Berlin Yacht Club caused a positive surprise with his third place, as did the 18-year-old Kiel local hero Ole Schweckendiek (Kieler Yacht-Club) with fifth place in his first full year of sailing in the Olympics. Nik Aaron Willim (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) sailed to eighth place at the Kieler Woche. The 26-year-old will represent Germany at the Olympic test regatta off Marseille. In the Ilca 6, Julia Büsselberg from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club achieved the best German result in sixth place. Pia Kuhlmann from the Schaumburg-Lippischer Seglerverein came ninth.
Dirk Ramhorst repeatedly emphasised that the overall very low international participation in Kiel Week from the world-class segment was due to the proximity to the Pre-Olympics and the World Championship summit in The Hague in this pre-Olympic year. In particular, the training windows overlapped with the period in which Kiel Week was being held.
"Next year, we want to promote the fact that Kiel Week could possibly be a good stage for a last big regatta test for the Olympians before the Olympic Games take place a month later. It remains a challenge," said Ramhorst, citing one of several ideas on how to attract more top athletes to the Olympic half of Kiel Week in the future. There is no question of postponing Kiel Week in the future.
