Sailing World Championship: First gold for Kröger, Kördel goes swimming - and leads
Tatjana Pokorny
· 14.08.2023
Heiko Kröger has won the German Sailing Team's first gold medal at the Sailing World Championships ahead of schedule. After an impressive series of seven daily victories and two second places on the Braassemermeer, the Ammersbek sailor can no longer be beaten in the remaining tenth race with just nine points in his account. "It was another very challenging day," said the helmsman from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein about his final race.
The highlight: Heiko Kröger only won gold in the open class world championship for 2.4 mR sailors with and without a handicap on 5 August. Now, for the second time in nine days(!), he will be standing on the top step of the world championship podium and is delighted: "I'm very happy to have won this championship. Becoming world champion is always something special. And I didn't just bob back and forth in front of the field. It was a tough battle, sometimes it was only three or four metres."
Weak winds, strong current
While the para-sailing on the Braassemermeer provided plenty of excitement on Monday, the Olympians in the North Sea area suffered increasingly from adverse conditions as the day progressed. In the North Sea area off Scheveningen, the 1,200 or so Olympians had to contend with strong currents in light winds.
At the beginning of the week, some races had to be cancelled on Monday afternoon because the spring tide was approaching and the current increased by two knots. Although a mammoth programme of 50 races could be completed, some of the races scheduled for the afternoon fell victim to the weather phenomenon, which will continue to affect the Olympic highlight of the year in the coming days. Those who are challenged in the mornings at the World Championships on the North Sea currently have the best chances of making it.
Kördel took a bath, but still leads
The "tricky" conditions at the start of the World Championship series for the iQFoil men and women did not throw reigning windsurfing world champion Sebastian Kördel off his stride. The defending champion got his series off to a successful start at the World Championships for all ten Olympic sailing disciplines in The Hague. The top athlete from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein leads the fleet of 93 iQFoil windsurfers after four races.
In the first race on Monday, Kördel was initially "taken off the board" by Olympic champion Kiran Badloe (Netherlands) and his boom. Both ended up in the water. But Kördel was already able to cancel out the bad result. He then left no doubt as to how serious he was about defending his title with third place and two wins on the day. In the evening, the jury ruled in his favour, awarding him compensation for the botched start.
You could easily have scored a lot of points today. I'm glad that I got through like this" (Sebastian Kördel)
"It was a dangerous day today in the light and complicated wind conditions," said the 32-year-old in the evening on the beach of The Hague's World Championship harbour Scheveningen, taking stock. "You could have scored a lot of points quickly. My speed was there and I'm glad that I managed to get through."
The Nacra 17 sailors Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer from the Kieler Yacht-Club had to accept the first setbacks in the light conditions after three outstanding days of sailing and dropped back to fourth place overall with 14th, 17th and 10th place on the day.
Diesch/Markfort sail into the second half of the World Championship in the red bip
The 470 mixed fleet only managed to finish one of their two planned races. The runners-up in the European Championship and Kiel Week winners Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Joersfelder Segel-Club) made the most of this on Tuesday with third place. In third place overall after five races, Diesch/Markfort will continue their series on Wednesday in the red bip.
The duo was also positioned in the top three in the second race of the day when the race had to be cancelled in adverse conditions. Foresailor Anna Markfort said: "We call the current the extra factor here. We only reached the windward mark in the second race after 24 minutes. The race had a time limit of 25 minutes. The downwind section was still sailed before it was cancelled at a good two knots of current. That's 60 metres per minute ..."
Julia Büsselberg remains at the top in the Ilca 6
Meanwhile, their team-mates in the German world-class training group are not yet where they want to be: Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein), recent silver medallists at the Olympic test regatta in the Bay of Marseille, are eleventh at the 470 Mixed halfway point of the Allianz World Sailing Sailing World Championships. The defending World Championship title holders Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) are in 14th place. The mixed crews are due to compete in three races on Tuesday.
The new Olympic kiters Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters) and Florian Gruber (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) were in 13th and 15th place after four races on Monday evening. Ilca-6 helmswoman Julia Büsselberg from Berlin remains close to the top after finishing fourth and 30th overall on Monday, just eight points behind the Hungarian leader Maria Erdi and two points ahead of Holland's number one national sailor: Marit Bouwmeester, Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medallist.
Medals will be awarded daily from 16 August and the first Olympic tickets for 2024 from 17 August
Philipp Buhl and his team-mates from the German Sailing Team didn't get a chance to race with the Ilca-7 fleet on Monday, just like the iQFoil windsurfers - too little wind, too strong current. Like the Hansas, the skiff sailors took a break as planned. The medals in the ten Olympic disciplines will be awarded between 17 and 20 August. The best of the four para classes on the Braassemermeer will be honoured on 16 August.
