The athletes of the German Sailing Association (DSV) won gold medals at the 121st Kieler Woche in the Star boat, the women's Europe and the women's 470. However, DSV sailors also performed far worse than hoped in some boat classes.
In addition to the Starboat team with Marc Pickel from Kiel and Ocean Race winner Tony Kolb from Munich, the Europe sailor Petra Niemann from Berlin and the 470 team Alina Grobe/Vivien Kussatz, also from Berlin, also triumphed. "The results were pleasing. The Europe result is of course outstanding, and the result in the women's 470 is also very good. The same goes for Marc Pickel and Tony Kolb in the Star boat. But we also have classes in which we need to improve," summarised DSV Sports Director Hans Sendes at the end of Kiel Week.
Unstable winds once again meant that only a reduced regatta programme was possible in the Olympic section yesterday. Niemann was the only one of the three gold medallists to post another race result at the end of the day. Pickel/Kolb's race had to be cancelled and Grobe/Kussatz did not even take to the water. "We had a great week with a real race. It's especially nice to win in such a high-class field. Now we have to go one better," said Pickel.
Other medals were won by Christiane Petzke from Kiel, who took silver in the Europe, and Heiko Kröger from Mönkeberg, who won bronze in the Paralympic 2.4mR class.
Among the Tornados, whose performance Sendes expressed his disappointment about, the brothers Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau were the best Germans in 14th place. Former national coach Roland Gäbler, who has returned to the active competition stage, only came 15th alongside Andreas John, both from Tinglev. The duo Andrew Landenberger/Johannes Polgar from Titisee and Kiel followed in 16th place. "Even though the weather only allowed three races, I expected more from our teams. After all, a huge amount of material was used in the preparation," said Sendes, criticising the performance of the Tornado crews. However, experts doubt whether the results of the only three races reflect the actual performance level of the Tornado sailors, as Sendes claims.
In consultation with the Olympic Sailing Committee (OSA), Sendes awarded the tickets for the Pre-Olympics, which will take place from 14 to 28 August in Athens. While Landenberger/Polgar had already secured their ticket in the Tornado, as did Michael Fellmann from Sulzbach in the Finn Dinghy, there was still a lot of worry and calculation in the other classes. In the end, for example, Stefanie Rothweiler/Monika Leu from Immenstadt were chosen over the Kiel winners Grobe/Kussatz in the women's 470.
The weekend was also exciting for the sea sailors. Only the remaining long-distance regatta brought the decision in the International German Championship. In a nerve-wracking race, plagued by a lull at the end, Thomas Brügge's "Extasy" narrowly edged out Horst Mann's "L & M Hispaniola" in the IDM 1 group. In the IDM 2 group, the "Sailtron X Press" of skipper Thorsten Bastiansen beat the three-time title winner "Lollipop" of Jan Hinrichs. And in the IDM 3+4 group, Detlef Amlong's Optima "Froschkönig" celebrated a convincing comeback with her victory after a two-year absence from Kieler Woche.
Head of organisation Dieter Rümmeli was able to look back on a successful week despite the difficult weather conditions. "We made the best of what the weather allowed," said Rümmeli.
And that was probably one of the reasons why sponsor BMW has already decided to take part again next year. "We particularly enjoyed the relaxed, friendly atmosphere here in Schilksee. We will certainly be able to increase our involvement next year and, above all, we want to make sailing even more spectator-friendly," says Dirk Hollweg, Head of BMW Sports and Event Marketing. Match racing is one option, large screens in the city centre to broadcast the races is another, continued the Munich native. Youth work, Kiel Week and, of course, Oracle BMW Racing continue to be the focal points for the car manufacturer in the core sport of sailing.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
