World Championship 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17: All eyes on Auckland: Two skiff teams on course for medals

This has not happened for a long time: At the World Championship for the Olympic sailing disciplines 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17, two German crews are on course for medals two days before the end of the series in Auckland. First and foremost, Rio bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel continue to lead their 49er classification ahead of New Zealand's Olympic champions and America's Cup defenders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. "The Kiwis had a little less luck with their strategic decisions, but they remain the favourites. We'll try to keep them at bay as much as possible," said Erik Heil two days before the end of the pre-Olympic year world title fights. Three more races are planned for Saturday. The World Championship ends on Sunday with the last two races of the main round and the medal finals in all three disciplines.

Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel seem to be taking it easy this week in faraway New Zealand. "We're concentrating entirely on ourselves, trying to remain conservative and focussed race after race. The varied conditions here suit us," says the 30-year-old helmsman, describing the situation as his crew turns onto the World Championship home straight. Medal speculation or even the possible end of the black streak, during which German Olympic sailors have not been able to win a World Championship title for 19 years, still have no place in Heil and Plößel's planning games. As 49er national coach Marc Pickel puts it: "We'll do our thing and then we'll settle the score at the end." Once an Olympic starter himself and a very accomplished sailor and technician, Pickel was not the only one to realise in Auckland that Peter "Pistol Pete" Burling also feels the pressure to succeed in his home waters. "That opens up opportunities for us and others...", says the coach.

And Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel took full advantage of this on Friday: with another win on the day and 4th and 8th places, the Berliners extended their lead over Burling/Tuke, who did not start ideally, to nine points - a strong performance at the right time. However, Erik Heil also knows that his crew has already conceded the only strike allowed at this World Championship through no fault of their own, when the rudder of their 49er broke in the fourth race of the qualification. This still annoys the helmsman because there were a whole series of broken rudders in one series, but he was too late. This means that the top crew of the German Sailing Team cannot afford another major slip-up. Burling/Tuke, on the other hand, have so far managed an eleventh place - if they were to slip up again, they would be lower than the crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. Regardless of this, Heil/Plößel's performance so far has been outstanding. They lead the field with only 39 points on their World Championship account ahead of Burling/Tuke (48 points), almost forming a class of their own with the New Zealanders at the top. Third-placed Frenchmen Lucas Rual/Emile Amoros have already collected 71 points. The Brits Dylan Fletcher-Scott/Stuart Bithell (73 points) and the strong Spaniards Diego Botín/Iago López Marra (74 points), who are lurking behind, have almost twice as many points as the leaders. In 19th and 22nd place, Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club) and Justus Schmidt/Max Boehme from Kiel are two more German crews vying for a place in the top ten.

Lutz/Beucke fight for a medal in the 49erFX

Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke worked their way up to a medal place in the women's skiff on Friday. The helmswoman from the Chiemsee Yacht Club and her foresailor from the Hanover Yacht Club are in third place behind the Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze (40 points) and Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz from the Netherlands (51 points) with 63 points and are sensing their chance. "We have no doubt that we can go even higher. We made a lot of mistakes today...", said Susann Beucke. "It's an unfamiliar role for us now, but we've worked hard for this position and now we have to learn to deal with it. It will be a really tough challenge on Saturday." In their current form, the Bavarian-Northern German duo are unlikely to be able to successfully secure the important national starting place for the 2020 Olympic regatta. After nine FX starting places have already been allocated, a further six are up for grabs at the World Championships in Auckland. Of all the nations in contention, Lutz/Beucke were the best on Friday. As with the 49er sailors, the series also ends for the FX fleet on Sunday with the medal race.

Olympic nations starting places in the 49erFX and the Nacra 17 in sight

The same applies to the third discipline, Nacra 17, where Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer have only one goal in the mixed catamaran at this World Championship, to which they have subordinated all their other wishes: To secure the Olympic Nations starting place for Germany in the foiling two-hulls. The duo from the Kieler Yacht-Club are in 13th place after eleven races and will be fighting for a place in the medal final of the top ten teams in the remaining races of the gold fleet on Saturday and Sunday morning. Five more national starting places will be awarded for the Nacras at this World Championship. Teams from six countries that have not yet qualified are sailing in the gold fleet. With their current ranking, Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer are third best among them.

Here to see the intermediate World Championship results.