The final thriller of the Olympic iQFoil windsurfers put the final exclamation mark behind the six competitions of the Olympic sailors that came to an end at the halfway point of Kiel Week. It went the full distance. All four finalists had each achieved a victory before their last race had to decide the outcome. "I knew it was now or never. It was going to the limit," said Kiel-based Fabian Wolf from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein after the thrilling decision.
I'm glad I was able to keep my nerve." Fabian Wolf
The 26-year-old from Hamburg prevailed in his training area and won his first Kiel Week title. "I could easily have fallen off the podium. It was tricky today, the wind was very up and down, a lot happened on the course," said Wolf, who has only been back in action for six weeks and described the Kieler Woche field as "good to start with". Tomasz Romanowski took silver and Gunhak Choi bronze.
Kiel Week quadrangular windsurfing competition
In the women's iQFOiL final, "only" three races were needed to award the medals. In the gusty and shifty winds, the pre-round leader Marion Couturier was initially unable to convert her points advantage into a fast run to gold in the final. In two races with constantly changing leads, Couturier, who entered the final with one bonus point, initially had to watch as her compatriots Ambar Papazian and Lucie Belboch drew level on points.
Only the young Kieler Sophia Meyer from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club, who had surfed so strongly up to the final day, was unsuccessful in the final round and finished fourth after an impressive week. In the end, Couturier took her third chance to win the all-important Sailing Grand Slam at Kieler Woche. Ambar Papazian secured silver ahead of Lucie Belbeoch. Sophia Meyer, who only turned 20 in May, was delighted with second place in the U23 classification after her remarkably good series.
The skiff sailors from the German Sailing Team won two silver medals. Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Segelclub Inning am Ammersee) sailed to second place in the women's 49erFX behind the British Freya Black and Saskia Tidey. Helmswoman Sophie Steinlein said at the Olympic Centre Kiel Schilksee: "It's a great success for us to win a medal at a Sailing Grand Slam. It's a good start to our Olympic campaign."
Silver in both skiff series of the Kieler Woche
Olympic sixth-placed Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Mühlenberger Segel-Club) narrowly missed out on the 49erFX podium at Kiel Week in fourth place. "It's a good result for us," summarised helmswoman Marla Bergmann. "We're going into the exam phase of our studies in July. We wanted to work specifically on certain areas during Kiel Week. That worked well."
In the men's skiff 49er, Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club), who finished eleventh at the Olympics, scratched for Kieler Woche gold, but were narrowly beaten by Erwan Fischer/Clément Piquet in the final sprint, even though the Germans finished one place ahead of the French in fourth place in the medal final. Silver marked the first podium finish for the duo at a Kiel Week. Foresailor Andreas Spranger said: "A Grand Slam medal is something you like to take with you. It's a booster for the rest of the season with the World Championship as the highlight."
His helmsman Jakob Meggendorfer explained: "This is our first time on the podium at a Kiel Week. Our medal tally on course for our first Olympic Games in Marseille was somewhat manageable. A medal target at the Games is only realistic if you also win medals beforehand." All German skiff crews - men and women - are already looking forward to their World Championships from 7 to 12 October in Cagliari (Italy). "It's going to be exciting! We're already aiming for a medal," said Jakob Meggendorfer.
"Motivating" Buhl comeback for Kiel Week
In the ILCA 7, Philipp Buhl (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Segelclub Alpsee-Immenstadt) was the best German helmsman straight away on his Kiel Week comeback after a long break from competition. Although the 2020 world champion narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth place, he was still positive: "I'm very happy with my sailing. I've had maybe 21 days in the Laser since the Olympic Games, plus a week and a half in the Moth. It's amazing and motivating how quickly things come back."
Buhl's young team-mate Justin Barth (Berlin Yacht Club) finished eighth in the series in the Kiel Fjord. The Kiel Grand Slam victory went to Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini (Italy) ahead of his compatriot Dimitri Peroni. In the women's Olympic Ilca 6, Anna Munch from Denmark prevailed over Maria Erdi (Umgarn) and Emma Plasschaert in the battle for the podium places. Click here for all final results and intermediate results at Kieler Woche.
The Kiel Week will continue with the two Olympic classes 470 Mixed and Nacra 17 until 29 June. In these two disciplines, Great Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet took the lead in the Nacra at the start. After the first two races, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris also took the lead in the 470 Mixed. The best German team was Malte Winkel and Paula Schütze (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) in the absence of the German runners-up Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort and Theres Dahnke/Paco Melzer, who finished eighth at the World Championships.
