Laser World Championship: Slingsby wins World Championship in Boltenhagen

Slingsby dominated the World Championship on the German Baltic coast from the very first race and never relinquished control. The 27-year-old Australian set an impressive signal for his Olympic form, as he himself saw it after the victory: "I know that many people say that I have weaknesses in light winds. But I think I proved this week that this is no longer the case. I've worked a lot on my light wind performance and shed extra weight to be competitive for the Olympics." The Australian's determination to eradicate a gap in his performance spectrum is clearly noticeable: at the last Games in China, as world champion he was considered one of the sure-fire medal candidates, but never really got going and came home in 22nd place. Of course, he doesn't want that to happen to him again.

He was even handicapped going into the final: Slingsby limped to the start on the last day with an ankle injury from the previous day - anyone who has ever been caught in the foot straps of a laser knows how much of a hindrance this can be. With 10th place in the first race of the final day, he was also rather average by his standards, but as his direct rival, the Croatian Tonci Stipanovic, only finished in 21st place, the Australian was able to skip the final race. Stipanovic took the silver medal and thus also recommended himself for the Olympics. Andrew Maloney from New Zealand came third.

The final battle of the Laser sailors was disappointing for the gold medallist from Qingdao, Great Britain's Paul Goodison. He finished in 20th place, partly due to a black flag disqualification in the final race.

Simon Grotelüschen, who was a little unlucky at his home World Championships, will also be at the Games in Weymouth. He was in 8th place going into the final races, but was the subject of a protest in the very first race, which resulted in him being disqualified and costing him a great position. It was about a contact at the start, which was ultimately decided against him. Without the protest, a medal would probably have been within reach. However, the German underlined his excellent form with a very good race. The second best German was Philip Buhl in 11th place, who scored points with two victories in the final days.