Only the Paralympic 2.4 mR sailor Heiko Kröger (Kiel) was convincing and shares the overall lead with his long-time rival Damien Seguin from France. Olympic participant Petra Niemann from Berlin is seventh in the Laser Radial after two races and had to recognise the superiority of Lijia Xu from China, who is leading with a white waistcoat. The brothers Jan and Hannes Peckolt (Kiel/Hamburg) are in ninth place in the 49er, with the 2004 Olympic champions, Iker Martinez/Xabier Fernandez from Spain, as the first front runners.
Romy Kinzl (Hamburg), who can still hope to be nominated later, won the first race in the women's surfing category, then finished third and is second after the first day of the regatta.
"Damien is a full professional with maximum support. He should really be sailing in a different league," said local hero Kröger, "but I was even faster with my new boat." In Kiel, the gold medallist from the Sydney 2000 Paralympics will face all of the competitors who will be battling it out for precious metal in Qingdao/China in late summer.
The field in the 49ers is similarly strong. "For us, however, it's more about competition practice than the result in numbers," explained helmsman Jan Peckolt. After all, the fresh breeze of Kieler Woche no longer suits them so much after the pair of brothers lost twelve kilograms in anticipation of the expected light winds at the Olympics.
After the Tornado class was cancelled due to a lack of participants, Johannes Polgar (Dänisch-Nienhof) ventured into the Star boat and amazed everyone with his new co-skipper Nils Hollweg, finishing sixth on the day. "We even led one race until shortly before the end before we were overrun by the Scheidt Express," said Polgar. Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada lead after two wins on the day.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
