​Kieler Woche 2026: Hungary’s FD duo claim their 15th World Championship title

Kiel Week 2026 came to an end on Sunday 28 June with a finale that was once again characterised by challenging conditions. According to the organisers, competitors from 51 nations took to the water in Schilksee; despite plenty of light winds and lulls, a total of around 200 races were held. Even in the days leading up to the event, the conditions had repeatedly hampered proceedings, as had as yacht.de has already reported.

The FD World Championships end without any further finishers

The Flying Dutchman World Championship took centre stage on the final day. Although there was another race at the end of the series, it did not result in another scored finish. According to race director Stephan Giesen, there were false starts by around half the field in one attempt, all of whom were disqualified. It was subsequently not possible to complete another attempt in accordance with the rules.

Szabolcs Majthenyi and András Domokos thus retained their lead. The Hungarian duo won the World Championship title in this traditional class for the 15th time at Kieler Woche. Kay Uwe Lüdtke and Kai Schäfers from Berlin and Hanover were runners-up, whilst third place went to Nicola and Francesco Vespasiani from Italy. By the final stages of the series, the Hungarians had already took the lead.

Despite the weather problems, event director Dirk Ramhorst offered a matter-of-fact assessment. “We couldn’t do anything about the wind and weather,” said Ramhorst. However, the race committee had shown a great deal of flexibility and scheduled the starts to take place well into the early evening.

Poland’s 29er crew sets the tone ahead of the World Championships

In the 29er class, too, the outcome was only decided late on. Blanka Sójkowska and Julia Nagórska from Poland won the Eurocup by finishing second in the final race. This allowed them to discard a 17th-place finish from their results and significantly improve their overall position.

The silver went to Maximo Baudoino and Juan Ignacio Cernadas from Argentina. Bronze was won by the New Zealand crew of Nelsen Mecham and Oli Stone, who were level on points. For the Australians Mia Austin and Zara Marks, two weaker results on the final day were not enough to secure overall victory, and they dropped back to fourth place. The best German team was David Plettner and Moritz Aigner from Bavaria, who finished eleventh. For the international field, this also serves as a final dress rehearsal, as the 29er World Championships are set to begin in Schilksee this Friday.

From ILCA 6 to J/24: more winners in the final stages

In the open ILCA-6 class, Erik Scheidt from Brazil came out on top. The son of five-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt won Kiel Week by a single point, despite finishing 28th in the final race. The top German finisher was Luisa Helene Kloss from Müggelsee, who came sixth.

From a German perspective, there was a victory in the OK dinghy class courtesy of Sebastian Schmidt-Klügmann from Dortmund. He saw off Henrik Been from Sweden and the Canadian Baabii’O Flower, who finished second and third respectively. Further home victories were claimed by Yannik Holste at the German Open for wingfoilers and by Nikos Beckmann in the ILCA 4 class, who pipped Quirin Klapper on the final day.

In the keelboat classes, the Danish team led by Kim Gardø Christensen remained in the lead in the J/70 class. The J/24 class was won by Dirk Olyslagers of the Netherlands. In the Contender class, the Italian Marco Ferrari was assured of gold, whilst Max Billerbeck slipped back to third place behind Mark Bulka of Australia.

Offshore sailors crown their champion; Kiel also uses the occasion for political purposes

Bernd Dreyer and Jan Assmann, sailing their yacht “Xalty”, were crowned the new German double-handed offshore sailing champions. Although the Flensburg pair finished third in the final long-distance race, they secured the title ahead of “Xirasol”, sailed by Julia Walgern and Serjoscha Bender. Bronze went to “Lotta”, skippered by Michael and Ruth Matzke.

In the Silver Band race at Kiel Week, more than half the teams withdrew after a prolonged lull had slowed the fleet down, despite the course being shortened. In ORC A/B, “Rarotonga”, skippered by Christoph Mählmann, took the win, whilst in ORC C/D, Christian Masilge’s “Krabauter” came out on top.

From the organisers’ point of view, the regatta also served as a showcase for Kiel’s ambitions to host potential sailing events as part of a German bid for the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic Games. According to the organisers, around 100,000 visitors came to the event site in Schilksee.

The best final day of racing

Is Kieler Woche, as a major multi-class festival, more significant than many specialised individual regattas, or does this mean too much focus is lost on the most important title races? Feel free to leave a comment below the article.