The fading breeze in the Bay of Aarhus on Sunday was just enough for an exciting men's RS:X final and an even lighter medal race for the female surfers. After that, it seemed as if the wind had finally given up after eleven days of world championships for all Olympic sailing disciplines and kiters. The time for a possible start ran out at 4.30 pm. By then, the Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti knew that the Nacra 17 hunters would no longer be able to challenge them for the World Championship title.
The last final races, the medal ceremonies and the handover of the Aarhus flag to the organisers of the combined sailing world championships for all Olympic disciplines in four years' time in The Hague
Yet it was precisely this final that should have been the spectacular finale to a very successful combined world championship in organisational terms with an army of charming volunteers. Newcomer, 49er Olympic champion and America's Cup pro Nathan Outteridge and his sister Haylee from Australia were just one point behind the Azzurri. A further two points behind them - worth just one place in the double medal race - lurked Olympic champion Santi Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli. The best Nacra helmswoman Lin Ea Cenholt and her skipper Christian Peter Lübeck from Denmark were also in contention for all three medals with a further three points behind them. The fans in Aarhus were particularly looking forward to this. But the persistent doldrums mercilessly swallowed up the hoped-for thriller. The sailors involved had already suspected it. Nathan and Haylee Outteridge in particular took it in their stride and congratulated the Italians on the water with a smile. The brother and sister from Down Under had every reason to be happy, as the Australians had only just switched to the foiling catamaran together and had taken off straight to the top of the world rankings.
At the end of the two instead of the planned three final races, the final award ceremonies and the farewell from Aarhus took place. The sporting highlight was provided by the Dutch, who won the IOC Predent's Cup as the best nation at these world championships. With three gold, two silver and one bronze medal, the "flying Dutch" were the dominant nation of all 1400 athletes from 85 countries. The Australians, who are usually so spoilt by success, won two silver medals, while the British only won two bronze medals. This put them exactly one place ahead of the German Sailing Team in the nations ranking, which also finished in 14th place with two bronze medals from Laser ace Philipp Buhl and the young Kiel 49er crew Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf.
The two medals the German Sailing Team was aiming for were actually won. However, the hope of being able to secure five of the targeted eight national starting places at this early stage was not realised. This was only possible in the Laser and 49er classes and surprisingly also in the Laser Radial. Svenja Weger did not make it past 26th place in the World Championship. But because the Laser Radial fleet was made the largest of all ten Olympic disciplines with 44 boats starting at the Olympics in order to increase the number of female sailors starting in favour of gender equality, the result was enough to score points. After all, Wegers' 18th place in the Laser Radial nations ranking meant that the same number of nation tickets were awarded in Aarhus in the women's single-handed dinghy for Tokyo 2020. "We achieved our goal of two medals," said DSV sports director Nadine Stegenwalner on Sunday, summarising the results. "We weren't quite able to fulfil the second mission, but I'm confident that we will secure the national starting places in our eight sailing disciplines."
In four years' time, the combined world championship of all Olympic sailing disciplines will be held in The Hague - and thus once again in an area not far from Germany and well known to sailors.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
