Olympic bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer have made a convincing start to the World Championships in all ten Olympic and three Para disciplines. In The Hague, Netherlands, the mixed duo from the Kieler Yacht-Club set two strong exclamation marks with seventh place and two day wins in the Nacra 17 at the start.
Our coach Marcus Lynch helped us a lot with the decisions today" (Paul Kohlhoff)
"We like the World Championship area very much. We had to sail cleanly and be fast today. The strong current of up to 2.5 knots, especially in the first race, was a new experience for us, but our coach Marcus Lynch helped us a lot today with his experience in the decisions." After three races, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer are tied on points with the leading Italian Olympic champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti in second place.
German 470 aces do not yet stand out at the start
The German 470 mixed teams opened the World Championships in the popular Dutch sailing area, where the Ocean Race fleet with Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia had recently made a stopover, in a surprisingly subdued manner.
Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) were the best German 470 mixed crew in twelfth place after two races. The reigning world champions Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) continue their series in 21st place. The Kieler Woche winners and European runners-up Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort will be in 27th place on Saturday.
In the women's 49er FX, the young Hamburg sailors Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from Mühlenberger Segel-Club finished in the top ten in eighth place after three races. The best team in the men's 49er skiff was Fabian Rieger (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Tom Heinrich (Kieler Yacht-Club) in 25th place. The other disciplines will start the World Championship in stages from 12 to 15 August, when 50 per cent of the national starting places for the Olympic Games will be allocated and the national elimination for the Ilca sailors will begin.
Ten days of world-class sport in The Hague
The highlight of the year for Olympic sailors from all over the world ends on 20 August with the final medal races. 38 German athletes are competing in the Netherlands. More than one crew from the German Sailing Team is at least among the favourites.
Of course, this also applies to Heiko Kröger in the 2.4 Norlin OD, who has just won his 13th World Championship title in the challenging one-person keelboat. After day one, the Ammersbek native was in a commanding lead with two wins on the day. In the RS Venture, Tim Tromer and Nadine Loschke were ninth after two races. Jens Kroker started the series in tenth place in the Hansa 303.
Here we go! A brief preview of the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
