470 World Championship: German crews within medal range

Half-time at the 470 World Championship in the Bay of Haifa in Israel. On the two qualifying days and the first day of the main round, the European champions Ferdinand Gerz and Oliver Szymanski have established a good starting position for part two of the world championships. In sixth place, the Munich helmsman and his Berlin coxswain are only four points behind second and third place. The Croatians Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (19 points) are in the lead ahead of the Swedes Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom (30 points) and the Australian Olympic champion Mathew Belcher with Will Ryan (30 points).

The Australian World Championship favourites, in particular, suffered heavy losses on the third day, finishing 21st and 15th. "It was a game of nerves," reported Ferdinand Gerz from Israel, "the wind here is extremely inconsistent. We're battling with a shifty sea breeze, which makes sailing quite difficult and nerve-wracking." Gerz and Szymanski finished the day in seventh and 16th place respectively. The European champion's half-time assessment sounded accordingly: "The second race of the day could have been better. We wanted to do the right thing, but didn't follow through to the end. In these wind conditions, it's all about corner sailing, which doesn't suit the Australians, for example, who tend to sail more defensively. On the other hand, we can be very satisfied with sixth place at the halfway stage. The points gap to the front is small. But so are the gaps to the rear."

Berlin's Jasper Wagner and Dustin Baldewein are in twelfth place after three days. In the women's 470, Annika Bochmann and Marlene Steinherr are once again among the world leaders, as they have been recently. The VSaW crew are in sixth place, four points behind the New Zealand Olympic champions Jo Alleh and Polly Powrie, who are directly ahead of them. The Austrian defending champions Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar took the lead on the third day. Ogar started the series weakened by the flu, but has regained a little more of her old strength every day. Lara Vadlau also reported extremely challenging sailing conditions: "The conditions were even more difficult than yesterday; in addition to boat speed and the right instincts, the necessary amount of luck was certainly also required today. It went very well for us again. Jola is on the road to recovery. We are therefore optimistic about the future."