The crews of the German Sailing Team also scored successfully on the second day of the World Championship in Down Under - above all Laser helmsman Philipp Buhl in his series off Melbourne. With two wins on the day, the 30-year-old from Allgäu took the lead in the large field of 124 boats from 44 countries. "It's rare to get the best out of a day," said Buhl's coach Alex Schlonski, praising the focussed top performance, "after the successful start, Philipp performed freely and confidently today." Buhl himself was delighted: "That feels really good." After a difficult 2019 season, he couldn't have had a better start to the Olympic year in these first days of the World Championships.
It's not just the two commanding victories of the day themselves, during which Philipp Buhl was able to extend his lead, that are remarkable. The fact that the Sonthofen native was able to beat the Australian Matt Wearn, the runner-up and best strong wind sailor of the 2019 season, twice on Wednesday is also an outstanding achievement. "I had dreamed of that a bit," said Buhl with a smile, "the start had given me the confidence to do it. Matt is already very good, not slow and always there." With winds of around twelve to 16 knots, the conditions for the Laser aces were very challenging. Buhl, who had taken an early lead in both races of the day, was even able to "shift up a gear" as the day progressed. In his forecast for the coming days, however, the helmsman from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein is keeping both feet on the ground despite his three victories in four races: "We have another qualification day tomorrow in what we expect to be good winds. Only then will things really get going in the gold fleet." Behind Buhl after the first four races are Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernaz and Croatian Tonçi Stipanoviç in second and third place.
On the other side of the Australian World Championship waters of Phillip Bay, Berlin 49er vice world champions Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel continue to sail on the wave of success. The crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein achieved a one-day win on Wednesday, followed by 5th and 3rd place. The bronze medallists from the 2016 Olympic Games move into the main round in fourth place overall with medal prospects. National coach Marc Pickel on his protégés: "They show and live humility, dedication and fun." Helmsman Erik Heil said: "It was another solid day for us. So we are still going well." After a less successful start, their Kiel team-mates Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme catapulted themselves into 14th place and also into the gold fleet with 3rd, 3rd and 4th place. All other German 49er crews missed the cut after just two qualifying days and just six races. This was especially true for Max Stingele and Linov Scheel from the Kieler Yacht-Club, who were two points short of making it into the top group.
Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club defended their fourth place in the women's 49erFX. "Good starts were required today," reported Vicky Jurczok, "we didn't always manage them. But then we were able to catch up well. That was also an important key today." Tina Lutz (Holzhausen) and her substitute headsailor Lotta Wiemers (Kiel) had to relinquish their lead from the start and slipped back to sixth place with 19th, 10th and 11th, but are still within striking distance of the top after their successful start. Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer had to accept a small setback. The Kiel-based Nacra 17 crew dropped back to tenth place in the waters off Geelong with 14th, 3rd and 18th.
British 49erFX helmswoman Charlotte Dobson and Italian Nacra 17 helmsman Ruggero Tita talk about the selection process for Olympic crews in their associations. An interesting discussion about the pros and cons of early or late decisions and the advantages and disadvantages for the athletes involved
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
