Who would have thought a few years ago that the German sailors would rise to become a world power in the new Olympic 470 mixed discipline within a very short space of time? The GER mixed doubles heralded their success last year when Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) became world champions in Israel.
German 470 mixed crews on the advance
With fifth and sixth places, team-mates Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) ensured that a whopping 50 per cent of the top six places at the 2022 World Championships were taken by German crews - a historic success. The 470 mixed sailors in the DSV fleet achieved a similarly outstanding result at the season opener for the Olympic sailors in Spain.
Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth won the final medal race at the 52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofía, catapulting them into second place at the first World Cup regatta of the season. Malte and Anastasiya Winkel finished fourth in the Balearic Islands, Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort sixth. Philipp Autenrieth recalled how steeply the success curve of the German 470 mixed teams has risen recently: "If you consider that five or six years ago a 470 place in the top 20 was good, then a lot of positive things have happened now."
We had to maintain a balance between the medal target and a good start to the qualification for the Olympic test event." (Philipp Autenrieth)
For the German 470 mixed crews, the Palma regatta marked the start of the two-part elimination in the battle for just one place per discipline at the Olympic test event in Marseille in July. Wanser/Autenrieth are now in the lead. The Semaine Olympique off Hyères at the end of April will decide which of the German crews will get a taste of the Olympic test air in July.
Philipp Autenrieth took stock after the six-day series off Mallorca over the Easter weekend: "Here at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, we had to maintain the balance between our medal target and a good start to qualifying for the Olympic test event. That went perfectly for us. We were able to increase the pressure. But the other German crews also sailed strongly here. The whole group delivered a great performance."
Sebastian Kördel is the surfing giant among German sailors
In no other Olympic sailing discipline are there currently as many successful top players with Olympic ambitions in the German Sailing Team as in the 470 Mixed. Competing at the highest level makes the group around national coach Steve Lovegrove strong and stronger. Despite the growing competition on course for the 2024 Olympics, everyone wants to utilise this advantage for as long as possible as part of an open collaboration.
iQFoil world champion Sebastian Kördel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein is in a completely different situation. He is the undisputed number one in the German Sailing Team. Although his younger team-mate Fabian Wolf (NRV) was able to move up to 26th place in the field of 136 iQFoilers with a strong final spurt off Mallorca, surfing giant Kördel is unlikely to be a threat on his Olympic course. At the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, the 1.91 metre world champion once again demonstrated his world class in the new Olympic windsurfing discipline, which will celebrate its Olympic sailing premiere in the Bay of Marseille in 2024.
The shooting stars come from the MSC in Hamburg
Kördel made up for minor slip-ups with plenty of experience, great skill and mental strength. "I'm making fewer mistakes and have improved my sailing and strategy," says the 32-year-old in the harbour of Can Pastilla. He almost won again in Spain. "I killed the start," he said proudly after the final of the best three surfers in the harbour of Can Pastilla, where the surfers and Ilca athletes were guests. However, after a brief misinterpretation by Kördel, the Brit Sam Sills passed him in the final sprint and crossed the finish line just ahead of the German. For Kördel, silver remains an enormous confirmation of the successful co-operation with coach Dom Tidey and the international training group.
Two young skiff sailors from Hamburg also made a positive impression in the largest regatta fleet ever to have turned up in Palma's sailing arena: Only 21 years old, 49er FX helmswoman Marla Bergmann and her 22-year-old foresailor Hanna Wille finished sixth in the world-class field, fuelling hopes that the generational change following the retirement of Olympic silver medallists Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke and 2016 Olympic ninth-placed Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz can be completed faster than feared.
49er FX sailors Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille: "All in" for the Olympics
The young crew from Mühlenberger Segel-Club not only attracted attention with a day in the blue jersey of the fleet second and a day in the red jersey of the third. In the meantime, the duo also left the Brazilian double Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze behind, who won again in the end. However, Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille finished the Spanish classic highly motivated ahead of Olympic greats and world champions such as Támara Echegoyen/Paula Barcelo and Jo Aleh/Molly Meech.
"We decided last year to go 'all in' and concentrate fully on the Olympic campaign," said Marla Bergmann from the host club Nàutic S'Arenal.
Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer remain on course despite injury break
In the Nacra 17, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer managed a strong final spurt off Mallorca: the Olympic bronze medallists from Japan impressed with a start-to-finish victory in the medal final and thus improved to sixth place in the final classification. The duo from the Kieler Yacht-Club had to contend with light wind weaknesses during the course of the World Cup regatta, but also achieved a win on the day and other impressive individual results.
Paul Kohlhoff, whose team had to take several months off due to Alica Stuhlhemmer's knee injury before she was able to start intensive winter training, said: "We didn't have much wind in the winter and still have some homework to catch up on. We achieved our minimum goal here and learnt a lot. We deliberately took some risks and tried out a lot of things." Germany's best Nacra 17 crew is also currently on course for the 2024 Olympics without any threatening competition.
Three victories on the day, but no medal race: Philipp Buhl wants to combat light wind weaknesses
Laser world champion Philipp Buhl (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Segelclub Alpsee-Immenstadt) narrowly missed out on a top ten medal race off Mallorca. As the best German player in the Ilca 7, he finished the Trofeo Princesa Sofía in eleventh place in the record field of 184 single-handed dinghies. The top performer had already had a false start on day one of the Spanish classic. Burdened by this, not all of the starts in the series were perfect, with only one stringer.
Although Buhl shone in ten races with three daily victories and a total of six single-digit top results, high double-digit results after less successful starts were also a factor in several light wind races. "We lacked sufficient light wind training days in the winter. We have just as much catching up to do here as we do with the starts themselves," said Buh, analysing his own performance. He shares his current light wind weakness with more than just a handful of sailors in the German Sailing Team. The fact that he still ranks among the top six per cent of the international Ilca 7 fleet is reassuring in view of his quality.
Leonie Meyer makes an encouraging comeback
Formula kiter Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) and the 49er crew Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club) also narrowly missed out on a place in the final, finishing twelfth in their respective fields. It was nevertheless a successful comeback, especially for Leonie Meyer, who had hardly been able to race for almost six months.
Due to the many strong French and English women in the top ten, her result is worth a promising seventh place in the pure national ranking of the female kiters. "I'm certainly still lacking racing practice, but it was a good return to racing and I'm looking forward to the next World Cup in Hyères," said Leonie Meyer in Palma de Mallorca.
Eighth place in the nations' ranking for Sailing Team Germany
And who were the best at the season opener for the Olympic champions? Undoubtedly the British with four out of ten possible victories in the Ilca 7, in the men's and women's windsurfing and in the Nacra 17. In the foiling Nacra 17 in particular, the British were surprisingly successful in holding their own against the otherwise overpowering Italians - their new training partners - and kept three pressing Azzurri teams at bay. The German Sailing Team has positioned itself well in the largest Olympic field in Mallorca's regatta history with eighth place in the nations ranking ahead of Australia at the start of the pre-Olympic season.
Final! Click here for the summary of the 52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofía:
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
