The 32nd Olympic Games are fast approaching. The opening ceremony will take place in 50 days on 23 July. Two days later, on 25 July, the first starting shots will be fired for the Olympic sailing regatta in Enoshima. Germany's best skiff sailors in the German Sailing Team will start their competition on 27 July. For Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel, who impressed in Rio de Janeiro 2016 with bronze and a joyful somersault into Guanabara Bay, this will be the second Olympic Games of their careers. While their intensive preparations have reached the final phase, the 31-year-old helmsman and his 33-year-old coxswain visited their home club in Hamburg on Thursday.
Thumbs up from Kuhweide and Schümann
Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel met friends, supporters, journalists and fans at the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein on the Outer Alster. In an interview with YACHT, the medallists left no doubt that they want to fight for another medal. "Preferably one in an even more beautiful colour than last time," is how Erik Heil charmingly describes his wish. That would be silver or gold. The chance of this is also attested to by those who should know. Willy Kuhweide, who won his legendary Olympic gold in the Finn dinghy in 1964 in the same area, says: "Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel have a very good chance of winning a medal." Jochen Schümann, who won the last gold medal for German sailing 25 years ago in the American sailing area of Savannah, believes the same. It was his third Olympic victory in 1996. Shortly before this summer's Olympic Games, the two-time America's Cup winner also says: "The skiff crew has a very good chance of improving their performance. The good technical support from Marc Pickel contributes to this." The coach from Kiel is regarded as a brilliant boat builder and technician. Together with team manager Frithjof Schade, the sailors and coaches form a quartet that has been operating at the highest international level for a long time.
The benchmark of 49er sailing is still the exceptional New Zealand sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who have characterised this class since their first World Championship gold in 2013 with a total of six World Championship titles in the 49er. In a training partnership with the strong Spanish runners-up Diego Botín and Iago López, the German World Championship bronze medallists from 2020 and runners-up from 2019 have worked their way ever closer to the high-flyer Kiwis in recent years. "We're closer than ever," says Erik Heil. It is not without reason that the New Zealanders, who were only able to return to full Olympic 49er sailing in the spring after a long break from skiff racing and a successful America's Cup campaign, studied the German 49er in detail at the last test regatta in Santander. "Technically, Erik and Thomas performed on a par with Burling and Tuke during the test - if not more. We are now working on tactical refinements in particular," Marc Pickel also confirms. The German skiff racing team does not want to reveal any details about the technical development steps at the moment; the Olympics are just around the corner. Heil says this much: "We can be pretty sure that our speed potential is right there if we set everything up correctly. We have developed well in the wave. Burling hasn't had that recently like we have. He's not a kilometre further away than usual."
A unique partnership: 20 years in the same boat
"There will be four or five teams fighting for the medals. And so will we. The fact that we already know the Olympics and are taking part for the second time is an advantage for us, as it is for some others, of course," says Thomas Plößel on course for Enoshima. He and his cox have not only enjoyed a successful career together, but also a record-breakingly long partnership. The duo just celebrated two decades in the same boat on 19 May. This makes Team HP Sailing an exceptional phenomenon in international Olympic sport - across all sports. They met at the Tegel Sailing Club, where the highly esteemed youth coach Michael Kosta brought them together. At their first regatta, a teen championship on Lake Tegel in May 2001, they came second straight away. A lot has happened since then. Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel want to write their next chapter together this summer in Japan. It will certainly be exciting.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
