World Championship gold for Olympic sailing: Sebastian Kördel is world champion!
The triple final of the iQFoil Windsurfing World Championship off Brest was hard to beat in terms of excitement. Sebastian Kördel had previously dominated the World Championship week in the Breton region in impressive fashion with nine wins in 14 races. But with the new Olympic iQFoilers, the format ensures high tension right to the end. Kördel only had 16 net points to his name after qualifying and the main round. The closest rival was Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland with 47 points. In Olympic sailing, Kördel would have had the World Championship title safely in his pocket long ago. Not so in iQFoil windsurfing.
Sebastian Kördel: "The pressure was unimaginably high"
After the main round, the windsurfers go into a merciless medal series with knockout races: The winner of the main round goes straight through to the final. The second and third place finishers are seeded for the semi-finals. The starters in fourth to tenth place compete in a quarter-final race for the other two semi-final places. The two best semi-finalists reach the final, where there is a three-way battle for the medals. "It's terrible," commented Kördel on the system, "you can't even imagine the pressure it puts on you."
In this World Championship final, the big iQFoiler from the DSV Olympic squad withstood the immense pressure. He successfully defended himself against the attacks of the new vice world champion Luuc Van Opzeeland and, after a successful start, impressed with confident manoeuvres and the best speed. After less than ten minutes, Kördel clinched his first world title as a budding Olympian in the thriller final. "Is that true? I can't believe it!" he exclaimed after crossing the finish line.
"I had flashbacks in the final"
In recent years, Kördel had regularly demonstrated his ability to perform. However, he had narrowly missed out on major titles in decisive finals. "I had flashbacks in the final on the last section today. That's where I last lost the European Championship title. Today I could hear my rival's foil in the water again and just thought: 'That can't happen again'."
It isn't. Kördel kept his nerve and defended his lead cleverly and tenaciously. When his opponents attacked him with pumps, he kept his cool on the foil - and his speed. If they wanted to get away from him, he took them into loose cover. The man with the sail number GER 220 crossed the finish line a few seconds ahead of Holland's best World Championship competitor Luuc Van Opzeeland, overjoyed as the new World Champion. A second Dutchman, Huig Jan Tak, took bronze.
50,000 euros gold bonus from the NRV Olympic Team
161 iQFoiler dominated Sebastian Kördel in his golden week at the World Championships. DSV sports director Nadine Stegenwalner praised his "sensational performance". Kördel's happy ending will be rewarded with a very special bonus in addition to association, club and sponsor support: The most successful German windsurfer this year will receive the NRV Olympic Team's gold bonus of 50,000 euros. The performance-orientated team of the North German Regatta Association only pays this out to Olympic and world champions in Olympic sailing disciplines. Click here for the men's iQFoil World Championship results.
The World Championship triumph means a lot to Sebastian Kördel. "Nobody can take it away from me. It symbolises that I can win." On course for the 2024 Olympics, the professional athlete, who first came into contact with surfing on a family holiday in Corsica at the age of seven, is now enjoying the good feeling of a champion: "This is the biggest success of my career. It will give me a lot of motivation and self-confidence."
"Resi" Steinlein wins bronze in the women's U21 World Championships
Theresa Marie Steinlein also contributed to the strong performance of the iQFoiLers from the German Sailing Team in the French World Championship area. Kördel's 20-year-old club mate from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein foiled to 17th place and even won the bronze medal in the U21 World Championship classification.
After Ilca 7 helmsman Philipp Buhl had redeemed German sailing in 2020 with his World Championship triumph in the Laser after a two-decade-long World Championship title drought in the Olympic sailing disciplines, Sebastian Kördel has now shown two and a half years later what the best athletes in the German Sailing Team are capable of. And this may not have been the last major success for the national sailing team this year: from 24 October, Germany's best 470 mixed teams will be challenged at the World Championships in Israel.
