World Championship 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17: World Championship summit before Auckland: The Olympic elimination begins!

Medals, top placings, two missing Olympic starting places and points for their own elimination account on course for Enoshima: three weeks before Christmas, the wish list of Germany's best skiff and mixed catamaran sailors at the joint world championship in the New Zealand waters off Auckland is as long as the Kiwis' futuristic Cup yacht, which has been ploughing through the training fields there at an impressive pace over the past few weeks. Down Under, the best members of the German Sailing Team have been training intensively throughout November for the season highlight at the end of the year and getting used to the drastic time change. The national coaches and their protégés are now optimistic about the superlative world title fights. 412 sailors, 206 teams from 41 nations - including 14 (!) Olympic champions - are eagerly awaiting the starting gun for the spectacular Olympic disciplines 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 on 3 December.

The German crews are at least among the extended favourites in all three classes, but still have other important tasks to complete in the former and future America's Cup area. The two 49erFX crews Victoria Jurczok/Anika Lorenz (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (Chiemsee Yacht-Club/Hannoverscher Yacht-Club) have to be as flexible as possible. Above all, they have to secure the as yet unsecured national starting place for their discipline for the 2020 Olympics. At the same time, both teams want to show with a convincing result that they are back at the top of the world after a long dry spell and months of intensive training. The World Championship also marks the start of their three-part national elimination - a duel in the 49erFX that already took place in this form four years ago: Jurczok/Lorenz vs. Lutz/Beucke. Back then, Jurczok/Lorenz came out on top and secured their personal Olympic ticket, sailing to ninth place in Rio de Janeiro. The Berlin team also won the duel for the ticket to the Pre-Olympics this year. Whether the balance of power remains the same or whether Lutz/Beucke, who were better placed in a test regatta last week, can turn the tide in their favour - the World Championships will provide the first, but not yet decisive, information. As with the 49er sailors, the national elimination only ends after two more regattas - the 2020 World Championships in Australia in February and the European classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía off Mallorca in the spring.

You can get a foretaste of the World Cup triple here

Foresailor Susann Beucke said in Auckland: "The number of tasks doesn't make a big difference because they are not mutually exclusive. We have trained extremely hard and know that we couldn't have worked harder. So we can go into the World Championship with confidence and that's what we're doing. The better we ride, the greater the chance that everything we want will materialise." In the meantime, the two FX crews are still united by the common task of securing a place on the national starting grid, but they have each been preparing with their own coach at the same time. Especially because the World Championships will initially be sailed in groups and possibly not always on the same course. The risk of continuing to share the national coach Dave Evans seemed too high. Lutz/Beucke therefore have the experienced coach Ian Barker at their side, who won the 505 World Championship in 1993 and Olympic silver in the 49er in 2000. Jurczok/Lorenz will be coached by former 29er world champion and 49er world number three Dave Evans. Helmswoman Vicky Jurczok said before the World Championship: "We have trained a lot and feel well prepared. We want to sail a good world championship. Everything else are add-ons that result from the ranking." Commenting on the passion for sailing that can be felt everywhere in Auckland, the Berlin native said: "New Zealand is generally a sport-loving country. The stars here are not actors, but athletes. Including the sailors. Cool, isn't it?" The top favourites for the 49erFX World Championships in Auckland include the Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, as well as the New Zealand local heroes Molly Meech and Alexandra Maloney.

The German mixed crews on the foiling Nacras also still have to secure their place at the start of this World Championship. "That is our absolute focus," announced helmsman Paul Kohlhoff (Kieler Yacht-Club), who is competing with Alica Stuhlemmer. "We are as fit as we wanted to be, we feel good and balanced. Under normal circumstances, we should be able to secure a place in the Nations Cup even with a below-average performance." Jan Hauke Erichsen and Carolina Werner also want to help. Erichsen has taken over the tiller on the foiling Nacra 17 from Johannes Polgar, who is taking a break with a knee injury. Erichsen and Werner have been training together for just over a month. The experienced foresailor says: "We are happy that we can sometimes play with the good teams. The fitness level on board is top, we have a very good relationship at eye level. Depending on who is closer to the action, they get to make the decisions. We have a lot of fun here on the water in this exciting and challenging area." Unlike the skiffs, however, the German Nacra crews' national Olympic competition does not begin until February at the World Championships in Australia. This makes it somewhat easier for the catamaran sailors than for the FX crews to concentrate on securing their place on the national starting grid, i.e. achieving the strongest possible overall result. The international favourites in the battle for the Nacra World Championship crown are enormous. The Argentinian Olympic champions Santi Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli, the Australian top team Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, America's Cup helmsman Nathan Outteridge with his sister Haylee, the Austrian Kieler Woche winners Thomas Zajac and Barbara Matz, the Danes Lin Cenholt and Cp Lübeck, the multiple French world champions and SailGP aces Billy Besson and Marie Riou, the Italian world champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti and many more who could be in contention for the medals.

The third World Championship discipline also promises to be very exciting: in the 49er, a fleet of GER skiffs will be battling it out for a top position and the first points for their personal elimination account. Germany's successful 49er athletes had already secured their place at the first possible time at the 2018 World Championships. At that time, it was the World Championship bronze medallists Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) who had secured their starting place for the national sailing team, just ahead of the fourth-placed veterans Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel with their surprising bronze medal. However, this did not automatically give them the right to compete individually. At least a handful of successful GER teams will now be competing for this starting at the World Championships in New Zealand. Under the direction of national coach Marc Pickel, Rio bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) want to give it another go. Just like their friends and long-time training partners Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme, the 2015 European champions sponsored by their dedicated Club 49. Four years ago, the Kiel team had to admit defeat to Heil/Plößel in the top duel for the Olympic ticket. Now they want to turn the tables. Of course, Tim Fischer and Fabi Graf also fancy their chances in the battle for just one 49er ticket to Enoshima. Other younger crews in national coach Max Groy's team, including Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club), Nils Carstensen and Jan Frigge from Flensburg and Max Stingele/Linov Scheel (Kieler Yacht-Club), are aiming for a strong performance.

Erik Heil, whose 49er team won bronze in 2016, the last Olympic medal for German sailing three years ago, said before the start of the World Championships in Auckland: "I don't think our elimination will be decided at the first event. But of course we hope to take home a lot of points. In the end, it will probably be decided mentally, as we are playing at almost the same level. Whoever creates the fewest problems for themselves over the next few weeks and months will have the best chances. So I think that nerves of steel will be an important factor between Justus and Max, Tim and Fabi and us." Heil says that his crew is well-suited to the varied terrain in which the superstars are also the national heroes: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke start this 49er World Championship as top favourites. While their competitors have only been training in the 49er for weeks, the Kiwis change their boats like jockeys change their racehorses: Sometimes they sail 49ers, then again they are in action with the lightning-fast new America's Cup yacht of Emirates Team New Zealand in preparation for the Cup defence in 2021, ploughing through the fields of small dinghies at breathtaking speed. "You have to give Pete and Blair a lot of respect," says Erik Heil, "they are preparing for the World Championship here and pushing ahead with their AC programme at the same time. It must be incredibly time-consuming to manage two projects at this level at the same time." Justus Schmidt is also in awe of this: "Peter and Blair have driven past us a few times with their planer. It's quite a monster and technically absolutely fascinating. We've also seen the Cup yacht on the dock in Auckland City. It's amazing how present and at the centre of society the America's Cup is here locally."

Schmidt is not the only one who considers the world championship area to be exciting: "You can expect almost anything here, although strong winds are quite characteristic." The motto for the 49er crews is set by helmsman Tim Fischer: "First get into a good position, then attack." The 2018 World Championship bronze medallist, who trains in Kiel, adds with a smile: "The training regatta has shown that we have potential for the very front." The youngest of the three currently most successful German 49er helmsmen also says: "Sailing is always decided in your head. So it all comes down to nerves of steel. You could say that we're really up for the thrill." The 49er national coaches have already given the green light for an optimally prepared team. Marc Pickel said: "The atmosphere in the team is very good. We've settled in well and are ready for the challenges ahead." Max Groy, who looks after the younger top teams in the German Sailing Team, also confirms this: "The fact that we have already secured our place on the national starting grid is of course good. The world's top teams have moved closer together - a trend that was already evident at the 2018 World Championships. It's less easy to make predictions, a lot is possible and conceivable. Our goal is clear: "We want to sail the best possible World Championships and not focus too much on the upcoming elimination. Our younger teams have also shown in the past that they can compete at eye level with the world's best." The World Championships will end on 8 December with the medal races in all three disciplines and the award ceremony.

Here from 3 December to the results of the World Championship for the spectacular Olympic disciplines 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17.