Ilca 6 World Championship: Julia Büsselberg opens the Olympic year with a World Championship race win
Tatjana Pokorny
· 06.01.2024
The Olympic sailing season is open! The World Championship of the Ilca-6 women helmsmen has begun in the Argentinian waters off Mar del Plata. With a victory in the first race, Julia Büsselberg from Berlin took the lead at the start. In unstable winds of between eight and ten knots, she achieved a success with a fighting touch.
Above all, the way I fought my way forward after a not-so-good start motivates me for the coming days" (Julia Büsselberg)
"I'm very happy with my start. Above all, the way I worked my way forward after a not-so-good start motivates me for the coming days," said the 23-year-old Ilca 6 helmswoman in Argentina. The 2023 German champion is not only fighting for the best possible position at the Ilca 6 World Championships in Argentina, but also for her Olympic start.
At the opening of the World Championships, the top athlete from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club left all the World Championship favourites behind her under a dark grey sky in the rain and in demanding waves. Julia Büsselberg leads the rankings together with Norway's Line Flem Hoest, who came out on top in her preliminary round group.
The German Ilca 6 helmswomen fight for an Olympic ticket
Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom finished fifth in the first intermediate World Championship classification. The reigning world champion Maria Erdi finished 31st. Marit Bouwmeester, three-time Olympic medallist and 2016 Olympic champion from the Netherlands, finished no higher than 45th at the opening of the World Championship series organised by Yacht Club Argentino.
However, Julia Büsselberg did not want to overemphasise her impressive start to the World Championships: "It was just the beginning and the regatta is still a long way off. I'll watch race by race and continue to do my best." For the German Ilca 6 women's coxswains, the World Championship in Argentina marks the start of the three-part national elimination in the battle for just one Olympic ticket.
Ladies first: The Ilca 6 World Championship in Argentina is followed by the Ilca 7 Men's World Championship in Adelaide at the end of January
Julia Büsselberg's performance at the 2023 World Championships in The Hague had already secured her place on the international starting grid for the Ilca 6 Olympic regatta in Marseille this summer. It can be filled by anyone who comes out on top in the three-part elimination process at the current World Championships, the European Championships in Greece and the Trofeo Princesa Sofía and also fulfils the nomination criteria of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).
Gesa Papenthin from Potsdamer Yacht-Club was the second-best German on day one of the World Championships in Argentina, opening the Olympic opening summit in South America in 21st place. After the World Championship of the Olympic Ilca 6 women's helm, Germany's best will be challenged at the World Championship of the Ilca 7 men: Philipp Buhl, Nik Aron Willim and other strong athletes from the German Sailing Team will start the exciting Olympic season.
Ilca 7 coxswains continue already started Olympic elimination in Australia
The German Ilca 7 aces will be competing for medals, top placings and important points for the individual national elimination in the battle for an Olympic starting place in the Australian waters off Adelaide from 26 to 31 January.
