Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer will never forget 3 August 2021. Every moment of the 19 minutes and 57 seconds of their Olympic final thriller in Sagami Bay is etched in their memories: the botched start, the brutal opening penalty, the race to catch up and crossing the finish line in eighth position. After a few anxious seconds, the realisation strikes like a bolt of lightning on board the Nacra 17: It's bronze! It's the happy ending to a historic day for German sailing. Never before had there been three medals in three and a half hours at the Olympics.
Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke kicked off the German Olympic gala with 49er FX silver, Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel continued it with bronze. Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer completed the brilliant day as the youngest crew in the fleet of speeding Nacra 17 catamarans. Following the Olympic retirement of the four skiff athletes, the foiling experts from Kiel are the only members of Japan's dream team who want to compete for Olympic medals again in 2024.
Fighting back to life and into the boat after a brain haemorrhage
None of this is taken for granted by Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer. Hardly any crew knows as well as these two, now aged 27 and 23, how quickly dreams can be shattered when a stroke of fate intervenes.
Paul Kohlhoff's darkest period began with extreme headaches at a training camp in Mallorca at the end of 2017. He had himself examined in a hospital in Palma de Mallorca. The devastating diagnosis for the young athlete: Brain haemorrhage! Experts were initially reluctant to take the risk of surgery. However, when a post-operative haemorrhage occurs a few days later, this is the only option left, as his life is in acute danger. On the day before Christmas Eve, Paul Kohlhoff is no longer competing for medals. Now nothing less than his life is at stake.
Paul Kohlhoff has a stroke of bad luck. Spanish surgeon Jon Olabe has the confidence to perform the rare and dangerous operation, which lasts several hours. It goes well. "He is my lifesaver, someone who saves lives every day and will always be an inspiration to me," says Paul Kohlhoff about the man who became his friend and mentor. For many months after the operation, Kohlhoff fought his way back to life, then back onto the boat. It is often a frustrating journey. His field of vision is restricted for a long time because nerves have been affected. He has double vision and weighs 100 kilograms in spring because his body is crying out for sugar but cannot burn it off. The extended Kohlhoff family, friends and his sport carry Paul through these difficult times.
Alica Stuhlemmer and Paul Kohlhoff want to achieve "something big"
Alica Stuhlemmer is also a rock in the surf. Her sailing partner, herself only 18 years old at the time, took on responsibility for the newly formed team with Paul Kohlhoff on course for the Olympics. The duo took fifth place almost straight away at the 2017 World Championships. That's where they want to get back to after the low blow. Alica, who is considered a "fitness prodigy", trains, works hard and organises the campaign, while Paul Kohlhoff is getting back to his old strengths. In their new beginning, Paul and Alica promise to achieve "something big" together.
Paul Kohlhoff also remembers this five years later over an early morning coffee at the bar of Club Nàutic Arenal. It is the final day of the Spanish classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía in April 2023. Many in the clubhouse on the picture-book bay of Palma know the dramatic story of the young German and know that Paul's life was saved here. And they remember the time when he arrived at the club in March 2018 after the successful operation on shaky legs, overweight and with swollen eyes. "When I come to Mallorca, it's all omnipresent," muses the man from Kiel, whose fate is so closely linked to the island.
"We always had boats as a family"
Paul Kohlhoff grew up with his brothers Max and Johann in a lively extended family, the first ten years in Bremen, then in his adopted home of Kiel. His illness has grounded the boisterous youngster of yesteryear. He says: "Today, I go through with everything I set out to do as if I had no more time to lose." This applies to sport, but also to his private life. Paul started a family early on with his partner Jana.
In May 2022, Bruno, the son of the Olympic sailor and the aspiring teacher, was born. One year later, the young father received the answer to one of his most pressing questions at the World Cup opener off Mallorca. "I haven't got any worse because I have a family," he says reassuringly.
Scenes from a career to Olympic medal success
With sixth place, he and Alica have returned to the top of the Nacra 17 world rankings in the record field of the Spanish classic. A remarkable result, as last year the team had to withdraw from the World Championships due to a knee injury suffered by Alica and lost several months of training. It is now clear: the nationally unrivalled catamaran foilers remain world class on course for the 2024 Olympics.
Once again, it seems true that Paul Kohlhoff once gave up his childhood dream of a football career in favour of sailing. He was happier as a footballer as a child than on the water. "As a family, we always had boats that our perfectionist father tuned up. And sometimes five of us lived on them and sailed a lot. But I enjoyed football more as a boy."
Kohlhoff takes off in the Nacra 17 with Carolina Werner
Two events brought Paul to sailing as a teenager: while playing for Holstein Kiel's youth team, the young midfielder was injured on the then patchy football pitch in Dänischenhagen. At the same time, he joins a new, up-and-coming 29er group at the Kiel Yacht Club. It is strongly led by coach Patrick Böhmer and is the nucleus of future Olympic cracks.
"I had a lot of catching up to do after missing out on Opti training," Kohlhoff recalls of those early days. "But you don't have to be a superstar in the Opti to become a successful sailor. The Spaniard Jordi Calafat is the only sailor to have been Opti world champion, won an Olympic gold medal and the America's Cup."
I had a lot of catching up to do after missing my Opti training"
Together with Carolina Werner from Kiel, Kohlhoff started 2014 in the new exciting mixed catamaran Nacra 17 (see below) through. They won the European and World Junior Championships in 2015 straight away. Finishing fifth in the senior Olympic field in the same year, they catapulted themselves to the top of the world rankings and earned the nickname "German Wonder Kids".
However, neither Paul nor Carolina were satisfied with 13th place at the 2016 Olympic premiere under Rio de Janeiro's sugar loaf, even though they were by far the youngest of the 20 teams. The young sports marriage is divorced on Kohlhoff's initiative.
Paul Kohlhoff finds the ideal sailing partner in Alica Stuhlemmer
After an intensive search, Paul finds the ideal sailing partner for his future plans in Alica Stuhlemmer. For Alica, the opportunity of a lifetime comes out of nowhere. "Paul and Caro were the most amazing role models back then, they were the German Wonder Kids! It was a different world for me. I loved regatta sailing, but I still had my A-levels ahead of me ..."
With an average grade of 1.8, she manages this just as well as the cold start to the Olympic campaign. The crew harmonised straight away. Paul, who is 1.87 metres tall, says: "I'm probably the longest helmsman in the fleet, and Alica, at 1.60, is the smallest outrigger. We could hardly sail with anyone else. But the human aspect is more important. It's a perfect fit."
I always feel safe with Paul in the boat." (Alica Stuhlemmer)
Both appreciate what Kohlhoff describes: "We have a partner with whom you share a vision and are prepared to put everything on the table until you reach the top." Despite more than 100 capsizes together in a class that has already suffered serious accidents, foreship striker Alica says: "I always feel safe with Paul in the boat."
Both athletes are chief petty officers in the Bundeswehr's sports support group. "We can calculate on a fixed salary. We also work with what our sports company earns," explains Paul.
Close partner network with the Kiel economy
The first bronze-winning joint Olympic campaign swallowed up six-figure annual budgets with an A at the beginning. A Nacra 17 cost around 40,000 euros in the last Olympic cycle. Today it is around 50,000 euros.
A partner network successfully built up by Paul and Alica will support the figureheads of the German Sailing Team until at least 2024. "Smaller and larger companies can join us. Many of them have a close connection to Kiel, to Kiel sport, to Holstein Kiel and also to THW," says entrepreneur's son Paul, explaining the close links with the local economy.
Can the Olympic medal be reproduced? Marcus Lynch, Olympic Performance Manager of the national sailing team and coach of Paul and Alica, says: "Yes, they have the experience and confidence to achieve their goal again."
A year and a half before his intended third Olympic start, Paul Kohlhoff knows: "A gold medal is disproportionately more difficult to win than silver or bronze. You have to be the dominator before the Games. We're not there yet." On the other hand, there are a few things in his crew's favour: "I see us in a privileged position because there are a lot of new teams that don't have as much experience yet. Our overall package is very professional. Regardless of the colour of the medal, it would be the greatest thing to stand on the Olympic podium again."
Paul Kohlhoff pursues his professional career without compromise
His hunger for medals is also due to overriding goals: Like Laser world champion Philipp Buhl, Paul Kohlhoff is one of the few top German sailors who are uncompromising in their pursuit of a professional career. Without the net and the double bottom of a degree programme, they seek their opportunities on the basis of Olympic success.
In one of the leading sailing nations such as New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain or France, Kohlhoff would probably have long since taken the helm of a SailGP catamaran or been in demand in the America's Cup. Just like the outstanding Italian Nacra 17 competition. Olympic champion Ruggero Tita is already working for Patrizio Bertelli's racing team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, while he and his foresailor Caterina Banti will once again be competing in the Olympics.
In the absence of such international flagship projects in this country, Paul Kohlhoff must and wants to be among the best of the foiling catamaran guild in order to maintain his chance of being seen and recognised internationally.
Kiel Week, Pre-Olympics and World Championships
Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer will give a taste of their current level of performance at their home event in Kiel. They will be challenged and on show in the first Olympic half of Kiel Week from 17 to 21 June. Unburdened by the pressure of qualifying, the World Cup final on the fjord offers them the chance to enjoy a gala on their own doorstep.
Other highlights this year for Paul Kohlhoff and his foresailor are the Pre-Olympics off Marseille at the beginning of July and the World Championships for all ten Olympic sailing disciplines, which will take place in The Hague in mid-August.
Paul Kohlhoff is looking forward to everything that is to come. And to Kiel Week: "I like racing in Kiel and identify strongly with the city. Our son was born here. Kiel is the centre of my family's life. Our entire sailing campaign is networked here. I think it helps a lot to feel as connected to a city and a group of people as we do."
The Nacra 17
The Americans Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin designed the Nacra 17 in 2011. The foiling catamaran is mainly sailed by mixed crews and celebrated its Olympic premiere in 2016. You can choose whether you want a man or a woman to steer. At just 5.25 metres in length, the boat is extremely challenging: while only the daggerboards were allowed to be adjusted between races at the 2021 Olympics, the foils and rudder can now also be actively operated separately from each other during the competition. As a result, the foiler "flies" more often on the wind, but only from 10 knots of wind. The fastest Olympic boat class fascinates with a maximum speed of 26, 27 knots.
