Pre-Olympics: On course for the Olympics after a curious final with two silver medals
Tatjana Pokorny
· 16.07.2023
Imagine what happens at next year's Olympic Games: the windsurfers compete in the final, but it is cancelled in two stages. That's what happened on Sunday, the last day of the Olympic test regatta off Marseille. Firstly, iQFoil world champion Sebastian Kördel had catapulted himself into the final in spectacular fashion with two irresistible victories in the quarter and semi-final races. There he was to meet the already seeded main round winner Nicolas Goyard and the semi-final runner-up Nicolo Renna from Italy. And then this happened ...
Final cancelled after three early starts!
The Italian was too early in the first start attempt under the black flag - his out. Kördel and Goyard were left for a champions' duel for gold at this dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympic Games. Once again, the start took place under a black flag. This time, however, both athletes crossed the start line too early. This completely cancelled the final. After some back and forth on the water, the finalists initially surfed towards the harbour, were then called back again and finally sent home without having achieved anything.
The "test gold" ultimately went to Nicolas Goyard, who had won the main round and thus made his team France the most successful sailing nation in the Bay of Marseille with its fourth victory this week. Sebastian Kördel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein took silver and took the oddity in his stride: "My early start was very close. It was just a shame, because we both would have loved to have had the duel between world champion and world champion! The conditions were brilliant with winds of up to 14 knots and few waves. That was champagne sailing!"
Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer narrowly miss out on the medals
Malte and Anastasiya Winkel had already won the second silver medal in the 470 mixed on Saturday. YACHT online has already reported on this here.The overall result of the national sailing team compares very favourably with another 245 boats and boards from 53 nations.
Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer from the Kiel Yacht Club also contributed to this. The Olympic bronze medallists from Japan narrowly missed out on the podium on the final day with eighth place in the double medal final, but with two race wins and many other strong results, they were able to prove to themselves and all observers that they are once again reliably among the world's best. Helmsman Kohlhoff was annoyed about the medal race, but took a positive overall view: "I didn't implement our plan today. We've been penalised for that. We are among the best in the world, but we still need to work on our overall consistency."
There is room to catch up in half of the Olympic disciplines
With sixth place in the national rankings, the German Sailing Team is in a good position, even if the path to the top of the world in some disciplines such as the single-handed dinghies or the skiffs is still a little further for the successors of former guarantors of success such as Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel or Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke. However, world champion Philipp Buhl was missing from the Ilca 7, having been surprisingly beaten by Nik Willim in the national elimination for the Pre-Olympics.
In competition with a total of 341 sailors, the German Sailing Team presented a good picture, benefiting from a very well-prepared environment and a lot of team spirit in the crew, according to the unanimous statements of many active participants.
France's sailors have won their home match
The French hosts have impressively demonstrated that they are keen on their home games with four gold and one silver. The strong Netherlands, with their quickly reinvigorated "queen" Marit Bouwmeester in the Ilca 6, could only just keep up with them with a total of three golds and one bronze. Italy's sailors took third place with one gold and two bronze, just ahead of Australia with one gold from Olympic champion Matt Wearn in the Ilca 7.
