Kieler Woche: On course for a record: more than 4000 participants expected

The world's largest regatta week sails towards its 124th edition on a record course. More than 1900 boats from 60 nations are heading for Kiel Week from 16 to 24 June. "All in all, we are at a new record level. That's great," said Head of Organisation Dirk Ramhorst at the press conference in the Schleswig-Holstein state capital on Monday.

According to Ramhorst, the number of entries in the sailing sector is, on the one hand, feedback on the good work of recent years. However, the tailwind is also a consequence of the combined world championships of all Olympic sailing disciplines taking place in Aarhus, Denmark, not far from Kiel, a few weeks after Kiel Week. The Kiel area is comparable to the World Championship area in Aarhus. This is why more and more Olympic sailors, including the German national sailing team German Sailing Team with its top athletes such as World Cup winner Philipp Buhl and Rio bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel, are using Kiel Week to prepare for their annual highlight in Denmark. In addition to the medals, they will also be looking to secure the first national places for the 2020 Olympic Games.

The video is reminiscent of the last edition and whets the appetite for the 124th edition of the world's largest regatta week

Kiel Week is benefiting from this: the Olympic classes in particular are more high-calibre than they have been for a long time. After a long dry spell, many overseas teams are also back at the start. In total, over 4,000 regatta participants in 42 disciplines will compete for the Kiel Week titles in more than 400 starts over nine days. A total of around 3.5 million visitors are expected in Kiel for the North German Wonnewoche under sail with music, cultural and other sporting events. Around 400,000 of them will visit the sailing festival at the Olympic Centre in Schilksee and experience an extremely varied programme when sailors from all over the world compete against each other on dinghies, keelboats and yachts on the fjord and in Strander Bucht.

For the German national sailing team, the final qualification for participation in the World Championships in Aarhus is at stake in Kiel. With the Laser Radial Men's World Championship, the Eurosaf European Para Sailing Championship, the Eel Regatta, the world's first appearance of the Women's Champions League and the start of the Nord Stream Race, Kiel Week once again has a wide range of different sailing competitions to offer 136 years after its premiere in 1882. "Completing Kiel Week with one or two special events is our clear strategy. We are giving a lot of thought to bringing the right highlights to Kiel," said Ramhorst, explaining the integration of championships to further enhance Kiel Week.

In addition to the big festival in Kiel's city centre, Kieler Woche is still synonymous with sailing at the highest level. Even before Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gives the official starting signal for the largest sailing event in the world and the largest summer festival in northern Europe with the classic typhoon on 16 June, the fireworks of sailing begin on Saturday morning in Kiel-Schilksee and off the Kiellinie with the Aal Regatta and the Welcome Race.