World Championship 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17: Joys and sorrows at the World Championship thriller in Auckland

The quick end to the World Championship qualifying round, which was shortened due to the cancellations at the start, left many beaming German faces in Auckland, but also some sad athletes. The team of the moment in Auckland, New Zealand, are Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel. The two Berliners, who race for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, won the qualification in the 49er with a one-point lead over the top favourites, Olympic champions and America's Cup dominators Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, and will enter the gold fleet as front runners. Such a consistent top performance was not automatically to be expected after the long break due to studies and the return of the most successful German 49er crew in late summer. The fact that Heil/Plößel are able to realise their potential in this way not only speaks for the wealth of experience of the Rio bronze medallists, but also for their hard work over the past few months. However, national coach Marc Pickel does not want to get carried away just yet, but praised: "It's been a solid performance so far that we can build on. We are looking forward to the other finals. There's still a long way to go, and the whip will crack at the end."

Helmsman Erik Heil's interim assessment: "We're only halfway through the regatta. So far, we're happy that we've made such a good start. We're still a bit annoyed that our rudder broke in the fourth race. And it wasn't just ours... Three rudders have also broken in Enoshima this summer. Unfortunately, that was probably a mistake on MacKay's part. Of course, we would have liked to have had the information beforehand. That's why our stringer is now gone. And there's only one this time..." Heil, whose crew, like all the other German 49er and 49erFX teams, will be looking for their first points for the national Olympic qualifiers in addition to titles and top placings, said of the most important keys to his team's success so far: "We are focussing on ourselves as much as possible and not on any qualification issues. There are too many good opponents in the race for that. We try to go into the races focussed and concentrated, find good speed and stay out of trouble as much as possible, taking a rather conservative approach." Heil's outlook for the main round: "We haven't formulated an exact target. I'm sticking to what I said before the regatta: If everything goes very well, then a top three finish is possible. If things go normally well, then a place between third and eighth. We've had some very good days now. On Friday we'll have another day with little wind before the pressure finally increases again at the weekend. It remains exciting and is good fun. It's great for us that there are different conditions throughout the week. That suits us."

Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger were also delighted with Heil/Plößel on Thursday. The young team from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club finished the qualification with an impressive victory ahead of their second-placed Flensburg team-mates Nils Carstensen and Jan Frigge. And they did so in a race in which Peter Burling/Blair Tuke had to be satisfied with seventh place. With their top performance, Meggendorfer/Spranger worked their way up to eighth place in the qualifying round and enter the gold fleet as a top ten crew. Helmsman Meggendorfer said: "We are of course super happy with how things are going. In past competitions, we were often unable to realise our full potential. Now we've reached our first milestone at the World Championships." Meggendorfer cited "our very good overview over the past few days" as the decisive factor for his team's strong performance. Kiel's Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme also reached the main round. The crew from the Kieler Yacht-Club came 25th in qualifying, narrowly surviving the cut and will now want to switch to attack mode in the coming days.

Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf, on the other hand, have to tick off this first of three elimination regattas in the battle for just one German 49er Olympic ticket. The crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club did not get off to the desired start after a disqualification at the beginning despite a series of excellent individual results. The 2018 World Championship bronze medallists have to finish these title fights in 30th place in the qualification without a chance of a medal or a top position in the silver fleet. Fischer said: "The regatta is over for us and with it the battle for the first qualifying points. Behind us lies a series of unfortunate events. That happens and it's a great pity. But due to this unnecessary disqualification, our chances for Goldfleet have dwindled dramatically. Nevertheless, we sailed well and missed the Goldfleet by four points. We will attack in the second qualification and, with the necessary luck, we will finish at the front." Fischer/Graf felt that their disqualification was unfortunate to say the least. Fischer explains: "There was a slight contact with the leeward boat at the start. It was not hindered by this and also arrived at the windward mark ahead of us. It just happened to shoot us down."

Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke catapult themselves into the top five

The skiff sailors Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (Holzhausen/Strande) catapulted themselves to fourth place in the 49erFX on their second and final World Championship qualifying day with their first win of the day and strong individual results. Susann Beucke explains the reason for the enormous improvement in performance compared to the previous day: "We paid a lot of attention to the wind shifts today. Because that was our problem the day before. We hadn't recognised them well. Today, I was put aside for the task. We took it to such an extreme that we even wrote the turns on the boom the whole time. We also had good starts, good boat speed and good teamwork." From Friday, helmswoman Tina Lutz and foresailor Susann Beucke will be the only ones who can secure the 49erFX's missing national starting place with a good World Championship result. This is because their team-mates Vicky Jurczok and Anika Lorenz surprisingly missed out on a place in the gold fleet in 33rd place. "It was the two toughest days of our sailing careers," said Jurczok, sobering up and referring to both the sometimes harsh conditions and the results of her crew. "We hope that Tina will get the national starting place. Realistically, our chances in the national elimination are no longer so good, but a lot can always happen in sailing, and maybe we'll have a bit of luck."

In the foiling mixed catamaran Nacra 17, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer dropped back to 17th place on their second qualifying day, but reached the gold fleet and continue to sail on course to secure the Olympic national starting place in their discipline.

Here to the intermediate results of the World Championship of the Olympic disciplines 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 in Auckland, New Zealand.