More than a silver lining on the horizon: World Championship silver and bronze against a golden backdrop

Germany's best skiff and mixed catamaran sailors have once again emphasised their world class at the end of this eventful Olympic year. One month before Christmas, the 49er aces Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf and the Nacra 17 class leaders Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer presented themselves with their own presents at the World Championships in Oman with silver and bronze.

On the final Sunday, before the start of the medal races in the Gulf of Oman, there was even more in it for the attack-happy DSV athletes, but Fischer/Graf ruined their title dreams with an early start. And the Olympic bronze medallists Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer were also unable to dominate their field in the final as magnificently as in the last race of the main round, which they had won with a half-kilometre lead.

Nevertheless, the bottom line for the successful German Sailing Team teams at the World Championships is extremely strong and inspiring for the 2024 Olympics. With third place in the nations' rankings across all three World Championship disciplines, although no German sailors competed in the 49erFX, the skiff artists and Nacra 17 strikers can be more than optimistic about the future. Only the Netherlands with two titles in the 49er and 49erFX and Great Britain with World Championship gold in the Nacra 17 were better.

Did 20 centimetres cost the World Championship title?

Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf will not forget their most successful world championship in a hurry. The crew, competing for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club, had initially been in second place after 16 races in the preliminary and main rounds. However, a protest by third-placed Danes Fredrik Rask and Jakob Precht Jensen against the Dutch leaders Bart Lambriex/Floris van de Werken due to a tight situation in race 16 meant that Fischer/Graf had moved into first place with an eight-point lead over the Dutch before the medal race and entered the final arena as leaders. The Germans' chance of winning the title was therefore within their grasp. But their dreams were shattered at the start. "We actually wanted to take it easy," said Tim Fischer after the decision, "but we were probably about 20 centimetres over the line. We misjudged it a bit. Fabi's call came straight away. Of course, that wasn't the plan."

The necessary return to the start line to clear up put Fischer/Graf too far behind. They were no longer able to stop the Netherlands, who had pulled away and sailed to their first World Championship title with a convincing race win. However, Fischer and Graf defended their silver medal with seventh place in the medal final - their second medal at world championships in the Olympic skiff after bronze in 2018. "Silver is cool," said helmsman Fischer, who also openly and honestly mourned the missed opportunity. "You can't forget what a chance we had here today." This means that the traditionally successful German 49er sailors still have to wait for their first title after the 25th World Championship in their Olympic discipline since 1997.

The first of the six German 49er World Championship medals since the premiere in 1997 was won by Marcus Baur and Philip Barth at the turn of the millennium. Then, as now, it was silver. Baur, a two-time Olympian, achieved a second World Championship success in 2004 with bronze. At his side 17 years ago: today's successful 49er coach Max Groy, under whose direction Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf have been training in an up-and-coming group since the end of 2016.

This also includes Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club, who had strong moments in Oman, achieving six top five results, but in the end could not quite maintain the high level and unfortunately just missed out on the medal final in eleventh place overall. Max Groy said in Oman: "Our training group is strong. Everyone pushes each other and therefore also played a part in Tim and Fabian's success."

Groy praised his silver medallists in particular: "Tim and Fabian are characterised by their intelligent sailing style. They have a good feel for the wind, find clever ways through the centre and don't always have to shoot into the corners. That's on their credit side." Groy's World Cup summary summarises the current performance and the plans for the future: "The location is now a very good one. We have to keep it."

Olympic bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer in the Nacra 17 contributed to the brilliant double success for the German Sailing Team. The crew from the Kieler Yacht-Club won bronze in the Gulf of Oman, as they did in Japan, and ended the Olympic year on course for Paris 2024 on a stronger note. The fact that more than bronze would have been possible for them in the World Championship final on Sunday did not leave 26-year-old helmsman Paul Kohlhoff completely unimpressed: "Phew, that was tough today. After our victory in the last main round race, which put us in a good position for the medal race, we would really have liked to have come second. But we let ourselves get away with too much in the medal race. That's why I have one crying and one laughing eye today. The bottom line, however, is that the good realisation remains that we have consistently performed at the top throughout the year and will remain there. If someone had offered us two bronze medals for the Olympics and the 2021 World Championships last year, we would have gone for it straight away. We're grateful to our coach Marcus Lynch for what we've achieved and we'll keep pushing."

New and old Nacra 17 World Champions are the Brits John Gimson/Anna Burnett, who are not only a happy couple on the boat, but also in life. Silver went to the young Italians Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giulbilei, who, after winning three Junior World Championship titles at this Light Wind World Championship, catapulted themselves impressively fast up the senior field without some of the previous world-class teams and seamlessly continued the tradition of the successful Italian Nacra 17 crews. Click here for the overall World Championship results (please click!).

DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner, who like many German sailing fans watched Sunday's final live on her home screen, said afterwards: "The performances are outstanding with two podium finishes. This is a very nice start to the new Olympic cycle for two teams, both of which are tackling the Olympic regatta off Marseille - a great start, for which we would like to congratulate the crews and their coaches!"

The World Championships came to an end in a generational change after the Games in Japan and 978 days before the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in France with worthy winners, new faces and promising talent. Only next season will show which of the international skiff and Nacra stars of recent years who did not compete at this World Championship will perhaps return to the Olympics in 2022 with a view to the two-year run-up to the next summit. Two-time Olympic bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel, who were absent from this World Championship, have also not yet made a final decision on whether to continue their careers.