America's Cup: Duel of the year with Down Under stars

Olympic champion Nathan Outteridge and his 49er coxswain Iain Jensen have ended the 2015 sailing year with a respectable success. With their Swedish team Artemis Racing, the 29-year-old helmsman and his sailing partner won the last regatta of the America's Cup World Series off Bermuda after a long dry spell. From Outteridge's point of view, this was not only the long-awaited breakthrough in the prelude to the 35th America's Cup in 2017, but also finally a veritable challenge to the competition, especially to the New Zealand high-flyer Peter Burling and his team-mate Blair Tuke, who have recently been lending wings to the Kiwis' Cup team. The duel between Outteridge/Jensen and Burling/Tuke is one of the most exciting of the 2016 sailing season, with the Australians and the New Zealanders not only competing against each other in the America's Cup, but will also both be battling for gold off Rio de Janeiro in August.

So far, the younger exceptional sailor Peter Burling and his 49er foresailor Blair Tuke have been the top favourites in the battle for Olympic victory. The 2015 World Sailors of the Year are currently the undisputed number one in high-performance sailing in the 49er. Outteridge/Jensen dominated the Kiwis at the 2012 Olympic regatta off Weymouth and won gold, while the then youngest Olympic starter Burling and Blair Tuke won silver to give their home country its 100th Olympic medal. Since then, the tide has turned. The 25-year-old Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are now the hunted. They won three World Championship and three European Championship titles in a row in the 49er in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and are currently considered almost unbeatable in the Fortyniner.

In February 2015, Emirates Team New Zealand officially introduced Burling as the new helmsman and successor to Dean Barker, who has since taken over as skipper of SoftBank Team Japan and is leading the 35th America's Cup cycle. Like Burling, Tuke is also part of the regular crew of Emirates Team New Zealan, making them rivals to Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, who are to lead the Swedish team Artemis Racing to success under the leadership of British team boss Iain Percy. So it's going to be exciting in this duel between the stars from Down Under: who can prevail with their team in the 2016 America's Cup World Series? And even more exciting: who will win gold under the Sugar Loaf in August?

The German 49er sailors would also like to be involved in the latter decision, as they were recently close to the series winners Burling/Tuke. Both Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel (Berlin/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein), who are leading after two regattas of the three-part Olympic elimination, and their team-mates and friends Justus Schmidt and Max Böhme (Kiel/Kieler Yacht-Club) have already won individual races against Burling/Tuke. After the third elimination regatta in the battle for just one German 49er ticket to Rio as part of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía regatta, it will be clear by 2 April at the latest which of the two German crews will be allowed to challenge the stars from Down Under, who will both have to withstand the double burden of the America's Cup World Series and Olympic challenges in 2016.