Philipp Buhl finishes his Olympic campaign in fifth place: That darn third day

Without the medal he had hoped for, but with his head held high and celebrated by the entire German Sailing Team: Laser world champion Philipp Buhl returned to many open arms in the Olympic harbour on the final Sunday. He had just finished his first Olympic medal race. In terms of performance and daily result, it was a performance worthy of bronze. But in the final Olympic standings, it was not enough for the medal he had been longing for. Even before the final, it was clear that Buhl's chances of winning a medal would be minimal, even with another exceptional performance after winning the day's final race in the main round. With three strong rivals ahead of him, who were fighting for silver and bronze like Buhl after Australian Matt Wearn's early Olympic victory, (too) much would have had to come together for the helmsman from the Großer Alpsee to make it onto the podium. The happy ending did not materialise, although Buhl opened the medal race of the top ten laser sailors with an outstandingly confident start and even had the race win in sight at one point. He later said that he had been dreaming of a scenario that would have made a medal possible after all. Despite missing out on a medal, Buhl finished third in the final and left the stage at Sagami Bay in style and as a fair congratulator to his conquerors, flying home on Tuesday in fifth place at the Olympics.

Until his flight home and beyond, Philipp Buhl will often think about that darned third day of his Olympic regatta. Because it was "Black Tuesday" that robbed the hopeful of a more compelling position in the final and ultimately of the precious metal he was aiming for. On that sobering day, he returned to the Olympic harbour in Enoshima in the evening, finishing in 21st, 12th and 22nd place overall. His key message after the low points: "I underperformed." In other words: Buhl had messed up the day and each of the three races with at least one serious mistake. He carried this burden with him into the final. He was unable to get rid of it completely by the time he crossed the finish line in the medal race, even with a brilliant final performance. The painful realisation has occupied the analyst Buhl and his coach intensively - and will continue to do so. But both know that "would have", "would" and "could have" are worth as much in regatta sport as a lost lottery ticket with the right numbers.

"You first have to finish fifth at the Olympics"

Nevertheless, the German Sailing Team is proud of him. And Philipp Buhl himself should be too. "You first have to finish fifth at the Olympics," said DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner, paying tribute to her best Laser sailor. "Philipp gave his all and brought the series to a very convincing end with a race win on Friday and third place in the final." And Stegenwalner continued: "I value Philipp as an athlete, as a person and as a personality. As an association, we would of course be delighted if he were to continue his career for another three years until the next Olympic Games and enrich the German Sailing Team on course for Marseille 2024 with his experience and achievements."

Buhl has postponed the decision about another Olympic campaign until after the World Championships in Barcelona at the end of the year. He first wants to talk to his partners, the federation and his girlfriend Sophia. He wants to find out whether he can continue to "burn" at the highest level as before. He wants to "talk to my head and my soul" about whether another summit attempt at the highest level is an option. Anyone who knows Buhl can assume that his athlete's head and his sailing soul already have the answer ready. This Sunday, as the curtain came down on the exciting Laser show, his coach Alex Schlonski gave the perennial favourite the right tailwind, honest words and recognition: "Philipp gave his all today and that's why we're very proud of him. We are ending the Olympic Games with one eye crying and one eye laughing. We came here to win a medal. We didn't succeed. We lost the medal on the third day. Not today. Philipp brought the series to a very convincing end with his race win on Friday and third place in the final. Fifth place at the Olympics is not a medal, but it's still a very, very strong performance."

Buhl's team-mates also achieved remarkable things on Sunday

In the shadow of the first medal race of significance for the German Sailing Team at this Olympic regatta, where many teams, flags and cheers on the pier of the harbour of Enoshima finally provided a pleasant touch of the much-missed Olympic atmosphere, Buhl's younger team mates did a remarkable job on Sunday. In the Nacra 17, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer kept the competition coming up from behind at bay, even under pressure. The crew from the Kieler Yacht-Club defended their third place in the world-class field as if it were a home race at Kiel Week. For the 26-year-old helmsman and his 21-year-old fore-sailor, it was about nothing less than the best possible starting position for the final of the youngest and fastest Olympic discipline. The North Germans also passed their fourth Olympic day with honours. Nadine Stegenwalner was impressed: "Paul and Alica put in another strong day. Their consistent performances in the top three as one of the youngest teams at this Olympic regatta can almost be described as sensational."

Paul Kohlhoff stuck to his emphatically sober interim assessments: "The bottom line is that the figures are right. Now we're going into the medal race the day after tomorrow in third place. We have a small points cushion, but we still can't afford to take any chances." The starting position for the battle of the cat skippers: the top favourites, Italy's Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, are already well ahead of the fast-paced field with just 23 points on their Olympic account. Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer (47 points) are twelve points behind second-placed Great Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet (35 points) and seven points ahead of fourth-placed Australia's Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (54 points), who won silver in 2016. The medal race on 2 August will show whether Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer's high-calibre series so far in the power play with the heavyweights of the Olympic cat elite on foils lives up to its promise.

And as if that wasn't enough good news on Sunday, the 470 sailors Luise Wanser and Anastasiya Winkel also added further highlights on their way to the medal final. The crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (North German Regatta Association) bounced back from their double disqualification at the start to win the day after finishing seventh in their Olympic debut. "We started aggressively and well as the first boat at the pin end and were fast. The left side was much better," said Luise Wanser, explaining her crew's irresistible run. The duo found their fun again in Sagami Bay. The sailors want to prove to themselves at the highest possible level "that our final result due to the two DSQs does not correspond to our potential. That's why we want to do our best from race to race." Luise Wanser and Anastasiya Winkel have two races left on Monday to secure their place in the 470 women's final and advance even further despite a high points total.

Attention, high voltage!The German skiff aces will be in the spotlight on Monday. Both Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke and Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel want to attack in their final races and fight for medals. With a better starting position, the 49erFX women will start their medal race in third place overall, but the men also have their sights set on fourth place overall despite their challenging starting position. The women will be the first to start at 2.33 pm local time (7.33 am German time), with the men following an hour later. Sailing fans in Germany can look forward to ARD's morning coverage and ZDF's live stream.

Boris Herrman, sports senator Andy Grote and fans share the excitement in Hamburg

The 49erFX ladies received a special message from their fan Boris Herrmann from Hamburg before the final. The Vendée Globe hero sent this: "I'm currently at the Blankeneser Segel-Club - a little rainy Sunday outing with Malou and Birte and Lilli. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about Sanni all the time and am already very excited about tomorrow. And so are many others. Tomorrow morning we'll be at the Chamber of Commerce - Hamburg Active City. There's a kind of public viewing in the Olympic lounge. Hamburg's interior and sports senator Andy Grote will be there. Klaus Lahme will be commentating, Sven Jürgensen and many NRV people will be there. We'll be there with everyone from Team Malizia and will be keeping our fingers crossed live from 7.15am. We won't miss a second of this race. We are very proud of Sanni and Tina. They put in an incredible performance. They would actually be second on points net, if it worked like I used to do when sailing in the 505. Then there would be two strings of 13 races, and then they might have even less pressure tomorrow. But that's the Olympics now - everything depends on the last 45 minutes. It will be very exciting, but they have already put in a good performance. You can see that they are absolutely worthy of a medal. And that's why we're already very proud of them."

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