There was plenty to be happy about for the German Sailing Team's strong youngsters this weekend. Luise and Helena Wanser from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg are the new 470 Junior World Champions, and club mate Silas Mühle took bronze at the U23 Junior World Championship in the Nacra 17 with foresailor Romy Mackenbrock and was even crowned champion in the separately honoured U21 classification. Theoretically, the young helmsman Silas Mühle could also have won other categories below this, as the son of fashion designer and former Mumm 36 World Champion Thomas Friese is only 16 years old and his team mate is 17.
There were multiple celebrations on Sunday in Portoroz, Slovenia, as Theres Dahnke (Plauer Wassersportverein) and Birte Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club) sailed to third place in the junior category behind the new world champions Luise and Helena Wanser. France's Paola Amar and Marie Riou managed to squeeze between the German "sandwich" in second place. The German juniors were hardly inferior to the young sailors of the national team from the perspective and junior squads: Daniel Göttlich and Linus Klasen from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club sailed to silver, while Lucas Schlüter and Frederick Eichhorst took bronze for the Potsdam Yacht Club. With four out of six possible medals, the DSV athletes have proven that they are a force to be reckoned with in the future. However, they will face completely different challenges after the 2020 Olympic Games, as the two Olympic disciplines of 470 men and 470 women will become one, which will be held as a mixed event from the 2024 Olympics. It will be exciting to see which teams will soon be formed from the strong junior crews.
Here to see the results of the 470 Junior World Championship.
Silas Mühle and Romy Mackenbrock were only beaten by Italy's Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei and Denmark's Natacha Violet Saouma-Pedersen/Mathias Bruun Borreskov in the U23 classification in Risør, Norway. The Germans were in a class of their own in the U21 classification and were honoured separately once again. Silas Mühle said: "The medal is a small start on a long journey. It reflects the work of recent years and gives the whole team motivation to achieve even more. For me personally, it is an important building block to catch up in the Olympic Nacra 17 and to realise the big goal of the Olympics later on."
Naturally, NRV Club Manager Klaus Lahme was delighted with the many successes of the young sailors, who was himself at a youth training session on Lake Garda that weekend and hardly knew which way to turn his respect and applause first. "As a club, we are of course very happy about the successes. There's no need to worry about the NRV Olympic Team in the future. The youngsters are very strong!" Six years ago, Lahme coached Luise Wanser in a Laser junior training programme right there on Lake Garda. The young girl had taught Lahme's one-year-old son Nick how to run at the same time. The NRV manager sent her a video of this on the occasion of her world championship victory and, in addition to warm congratulations, said: "Perhaps there is someone here at the training camp on Lake Garda who will become junior world champion in a few years' time, just like you."
Here to the results of the Junior World Championship in Nacra 17.
