More is hardly possible: the sporting highlights of Kiel Week are one after the other. While the International German Sailing Championship came to an exciting end on Wednesday with the last race, the Olympians got into the action for the first time. At the same time, the 470 Junior World Championship began with the first races and the first German victories of the day. The opening ceremony of the J70 World Championship also took place in the evening. The fact that the CEO of the World Sailing Federation was a guest in Kiel on this very day was a perfect fit. Andy Hunt experienced an extremely varied day of sailing at the 122nd edition of the world's largest regatta, which visibly and audibly impressed the Briton.
On Wednesday morning, the IDM of the sea sailors celebrated a thrilling finale in the middle of a convergence zone. The title hunters had to prove their good instinct for the wind one last time in complicated conditions, in which the much-praised race officer Stefan Kunstmann and his team mastered their job with aplomb. While Jascha Bach's Dutch team had already secured victory early in the smallest group, after seven races only 0.2 points separated ORC I winner "Sportsfreund" sailed by Axel Seehafer from Heiligenhafen from her equal rival "Silva Neo" sailed by Dennis Gehrlein from Kiel. The "Tutima" sailed into third place with skipper Kirsten Harmstorf from Hamburg. The women's team had impressed the competition on the last two days with three wins in a row in lighter winds, in which the boat and crew usually struggle. In ORC II, the "X-Day" with the crew led by Hamburg skipper Max Gurgel won by 1.4 points ahead of Peter Beck Mikkelsen's "BM Yachting" and Torsten Bastiansen's "Sydbank" after a furious final spurt and a race win in the last race.
Germany's Olympic sailors also made a successful start to the 122nd Kiel Week on Wednesday. After the first day of racing, DSV sailors led their fleets in four of the seven Olympic disciplines held on the fjord. At the last major regatta before the start of the Olympic Games in August, Audi Sailing Team Germany wants to carry out final material tests and recharge its batteries. The two Paralympic teams Heiko Kröger (2.4mR) and the newly formed Sonar team with helmsman Lasse Klötzing, Jens Kroker and Siegmund Mainka also came out on top.
World Sailing Managing Director enthusiastic
The Kiel Week organisers have taken another step forward in the battle to regain the World Cup status they lost in 2013. During his visit to Kiel, Andy Hunt, Managing Director of the World Sailing Federation, said that "an upgrade and reinstatement to the World Cup is possible in the future". The Briton was impressed by how well Kiel combined sport on the water and the festival on land and said: "Many other major regattas can learn from this. This kind of presentation is what we want and need for the sport of sailing."
Celebrities on board
The further expansion of the intensive involvement of partners Audi and SAP, who not only operate the well-attended Audi Sailing Arena, where sailing is shown live on a large screen in the heart of the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre and commented on by experts, plays a major part in this. The sailing-loving partners also organise celebrity regattas or the Speed Challenge taking place at the weekend, where kite-foilers such as Hamburg circumnavigator Boris Herrmann want to compete with fast catamaran projectiles. The celebrity regatta on Wednesday was won by laser ace and Olympic participant Simon Grotelüschen with "Team Wintersport": cross-country skier Tobias Angerer, Olympic alpine skiing champion Viktoria Rebensburg and Nordic combined athlete Tino Edelmann won alongside Grotelüschen. "This is my first summer victory," said Angerer, laughing sunnily. "I've got the wrong sport," said the multiple medallist; "I never thought it would happen like this."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
