Pre-Olympics: "Ready Steady Tokyo": The Olympic dress rehearsal is underway

Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer secured the first German victory of the day for the German Sailing Team in the Olympic area of 1964 and for 2020. The Nacra 17 mixed team from Kieler Yacht-Club got the Olympic dress rehearsal off Enoshima off to a flying start with 7th, 1st and 3rd place and will start the second day of the regatta on Sunday in the red jersey of the runners-up. Only the Italian world champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti are ahead of the German duo at the start of the Pre-Olympics. Paul Kohlhoff's summary of the day: "This first day demanded everything from us with difficult winds and close racing. We made a solid start to the series - which means the blue jersey for us tomorrow. The points gaps are very close."

However, Austria's Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Zajac and his Nacra 17 headsailer are out of the race. The 33-year-old helmsman from Vienna injured himself on Saturday when he tried to avoid a high wave with a radical steering movement and Barbara Matz was catapulted onto his knee. Magnetic resonance imaging carried out in the Japanese hospital revealed a torn medial collateral ligament. Zajac was able to hold out for two more races, but now has to give up the regatta. "It's always difficult to assess an injury during the races. I've never had anything serious with my knee before. In the last race we overturned because I couldn't get into the foot loop; I couldn't tighten my knee. It's a shame that we can't finish the test event." The team will decide in the next few days whether to compete in the World Cup after the Pre-Olympics and what further steps to take.

Meanwhile, there was more good news from Japan for the German national sailing team: the 49erFX sailors Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz finished third behind the British Saskia Tidey and Charlotte Dobson as well as the Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze with the individual rankings 2-19-5. The crew from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club will start the second day of the Pre-Olympics on Tuesday in the red jersey. Laser helmsman Philipp Buhl from Segelclub Alpsee-Immenstadt also opened the regatta with the official title "Ready Steady Tokyo - Sailing" with aplomb, continuing the qualification round on Sunday in fifth place with a very good starting position. Before the first starting signal, Buhl said: "The preparations went really well."

Buhl's team-mate Svenja Weger, who has already secured Germany's place for the Olympic regatta in the Laser Radial, but did not make it past 29th place at this summer's World Championship, made a strong start to the series. The helmswoman from the Potsdam Yacht Club has placed ninth in the top ten after two races. The Laser Radial class is led by Hungary's Maria Erdi ahead of Olympic champion Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands and Danish world champion Ann-Marie Rindom. Simon Diesch and Philipp Autenrieth (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) also made a good start to the pre-Olympic regatta with sixth place after two races. This is all the more remarkable as the southern German duo had only just missed out on qualifying for the nations in their 470 discipline, but are now clearly getting back on track.

In the 49er, Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme are aiming to break into the top ten after three races on Sunday in eleventh place overall. In the men's skiff, Olympic champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have shown the competition with two wins on the day and a third place as sovereign leaders that the path to Olympic gold next year will probably only lead via the two Kiwis despite the Volvo Ocean Race break. In the women's 470, Nadine Böhm and Ann-Christin Goliass are in 13th place after two races. 363 sailors from 47 nations have gathered in the Enoshima marina for the Pre-Olympics. After weeks with little wind, they will initially have to deal with more pressure - on Saturday there were around 15 knots of wind - and strong swell. The series will continue on Sunday at 12 noon local time (5 a.m. German time).

Here to see the results, which were only available online on the first day after a delay of several hours.