50 years of the Olympics: World Championship hat-trick for Wieser/Auracher

From the Joint International German Youth Championship (GIDJM) to the 50 Years of the Olympics revival in Kiel, the north has been dominated by sailing over the past few weeks. After the youngsters had completed 176 races in nine classes, the veterans were challenged in the Olympic classes of yesteryear. Despite some light winds, 27 of the 28 planned races were held.

Markus Wieser and Thomas Auracher (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) were favourites to win the Tempest. However, it was not a walk in the park, as Lars and Leif Bähr (VSaW) came within two points of the best in class with three daily victories in nine races. However, they won four races and defended their lead right to the end. Despite their exciting duel, both teams had pulled so far away from the field over the course of the regatta that they no longer had to compete in the final race.

With the Mader-Tempest "Wosamma": First samma!

The Bavarians completed their hat-trick with yet another success: after World Championship gold on Lake Tegernsee in 2019, the coronavirus enforced break in 2020 and the World Championship victory in Torbole in 2021, the internationally successful big-boat tactician Wieser and his Tegernsee turbo Auracher won their third joint title off Kiel. They achieved this again with Markus Wieser's Mader-Tempest "Wosamma". It was even Auracher's fourth title. The 52-year-old had already won the Tempest World Championship in 1993 with Vincent Hoesch at the helm.

In the Flying Dutchman, Kay-Uwe Lüdtke and Kai Schäfers from Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau prevailed against the Hungarian perennial dominators Szabolcs Majthényi/András Domokos. Ulli Libor, who won bronze in his favourite discipline off Kiel in 1972 with Peter "Lumi" Naumann, was asked to dance the FD dance off Kiel once again at the age of 82. Libor sailed to 39th place with Ernst Greten. Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer bowed to Libor and said: "It's an honour to have you here. You are an icon of this event."

For Kiel's head of administration, the state capital seamlessly joined the Olympic anniversary celebrations in Munich and Augsburg with the last ten sailing days and the International German Youth Championships in nine classes as well as the subsequent revival of the former Olympic classes Dragon, FD, Star and Tempest. "I was hoping that we could do the same as Augsburg and Munich. And I think Kiel did a good job. We had a great week," said Kämpfer. The athletes had delivered perfect sailing. The most successful crews included the Danish-German duo Jörgen Schönherr/Markus Koy as winners in the Star boat and Ingo Ehrlicher/Michael Lipp/Anton Ehrlicher as best in the Dragon. All results for 50 years of Olympia can be found here.

Ulf Kämpfer: "We hope we can organise Olympic sailing competitions in Kiel again in 2036 or 2040"

According to Kämpfer, the revival has once again shown how sustainable the 1972 Games were for Germany. The Olympic Centre in Schilksee has been used for major regattas ever since. This strengthens hopes for the Olympics in the future. Kämpfer: "We hope that we can organise Olympic sailing competitions in Kiel again in 2036 or 2040 if a German bid for the Olympics is successful." DSV President Mona Küppers, who shared the excitement of the revival with young and old and hosted an exciting intergenerational talk on behalf of the German Sailing Association, also hopes for this. With a wink, she added that the picture at future Olympic sailing regattas would probably be different to that of the 50th anniversary of the Olympics: "My tip: there will be a lot of foiling."