Pre-Olympics: "Nailing the start" - silver for Team Winkel ahead of Marseille
Tatjana Pokorny
· 15.07.2023
Malte and Anastasiya Winkel have won the first medal for the German Sailing Team at the Pre-Olympics off Marseille. With second place in the final, the helmsman from the Schwerin Yacht Club and his wife from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein took silver in the newly Olympic 470 Mixed at the dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympics.
France's sailors on the wave of success
In their home waters, French sailors Camille Lecointre and Jérémie Mion won the Pre-Olympics, giving the upcoming Olympic hosts even more golden prospects than French kiters Nauriane Nolat and Axel Mazella had already done with their victories the day before. 470 mixed bronze in the bay of Marseille went to the Spaniards Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Nora Brugman Cabot, who were still leading before the final.
Malte Winkel said after the successful medal race: "We feel extremely comfortable here in this very versatile Olympic area. We nailed the start in today's final, but then got side-swiped by the wind. The boat filled up, but we managed to get the water out again by the time we reached the gate. After that we were able to catch up very well."
It would be the cherry on the cake if we could repeat this here next year" (Malte Winkel)
Commenting on his crew's Olympic prospects, Winkel said: "There are still three strong German 470 mixed crews. We now have to secure an Olympic spot for Germany at the World Championships in The Hague in August. So it starts all over again. And then comes the national qualifiers, where it starts all over again. Of course, it would be the cherry on the cake if we could repeat that here next year."
However, like the Winkels, the 470 World Champions Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (NRV/Bayerischer Yacht-Club), the European Championship runners-up Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and other strong German 470 mixed crews, who together are currently regarded as the world's strongest training group, are also working towards their Olympic nomination and just one ticket to the 2024 Games.
We wanted to be in a position to win a medal before the medal race. We achieved that" (Paul Kohlhoff)
On Sunday, the skiff sailors in the 49er and 49er FX as well as the mixed catamaran sailors in the Nacra 17 and the iQFoil windsurfers will be the last to finish the Pre-Olympics. In third place after twelve races, the Olympic bronze medallists from Japan, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer (Kieler Yacht-Club), have fought their way into a promising medal position. "We dropped a few points here on the middle days. But none when it was really important. We're going into the medal race as always: with the aim of winning."
In the Nacra 17, the Finns Sinem Kurtbay/Akseli Keskinen (35 points) are well ahead of the medal race. They are followed by the Italians Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei and the German bronze medallists from Enoshima, who are trailed by other teams with a small points gap.
Exciting medal decisions ahead ...
Sunday's Nacra 17 final should be just as exciting as the iQFoil windsurfing final from a German perspective, where world champion Sebastian Kördel was in fourth place after 19 races. In the final format of the iQFoiler with quarter and semi-finals as well as the final showdown of the top three starters, the man from Radolfzell still has every chance of making it to the top.
In the 49er, Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club finished the Pre-Olympics in 14th place. Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from Mühlenberger Segel-Club finished 13th in the 49er-FX on the Elbe in Hamburg. The final medal races begin on Sunday (15 July) at 12 noon. The Nacra 17 final with Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer is scheduled for 1.33 pm. The windsurfing quarter-final with Sebsatian Kördel starts at 3.03 pm. The iQFoiler semi-finals and final are scheduled for 3.25pm and 3.45pm. A live broadcast is not planned, but live tracking is available here.
