Olympic sailing: 42 years after FD gold: another Diesch on course for the Olympics

42 years ago, Jörg and Eckart Diesch won Olympic gold in the Flying Dutchman in Kingston, Canada. Now Simon Diesch, Eckart Diesch's son, is preparing to continue the family tradition of Olympic success. Together with his co-skipper Philipp Autenrieth, the youngest 470 helmsman in the top ten sailed to fourth place in the spring classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía, narrowly missing out on the bronze medal on equal points with the third-placed Japanese. "That was a bit annoying, but overall a cool week," said the 23-year-old helmsman, who started his Olympic campaign with Philipp Autenrieth at this very regatta two years ago.

Now the duo from the Württemberg Yacht Club and the Bavarian Yacht Club are already sailing on a par with the greats of the international 470 scene. Although Simon Diesch also confirms the continuing dominance of Australian Olympic champion Mathew Belcher with Will Ryan in the double-handed class, Diesch/Autenrieth were even able to keep the 35-year-old exceptional sailor at bay in their opening victory in the first race of the series. Six single-digit results in nine races up to the medal final testified to the top form in which Simon Diesch and his 27-year-old co-sailor have impressively kicked off the European season off Mallorca.

"Our hard work over the last two years is slowly paying off," said Diesch with satisfaction, "we can already assert ourselves quite well among the old hands. This has also increased our stability, our confidence and our self-assurance." Is it also his father's "golden genes" that inspire him? Simon Diesch smiles and says: "You can see that as a burden or a given. I still have to do my job. But the other side is the mentality. In our family, which includes another Olympic athlete, Stefanie Rothweiler, I certainly grew up with a kind of winning mentality - and with the highest level of family understanding for what we do. So there is a common thread running through it, but the successes are always the work of the individual." The Diesch/Autenrieth duo is being coached this season by DSV coach Robert Remus.

Coach colleague Marc Chocian is in action with the 470 sailors of the German Sailing Team and also had reason to be happy. Off Palma de Mallorca, Nadine Böhm and Ann-Christin Goliass sailed to 8th place in the world-class field after a long injury break and a surprisingly strong series. Nadine Böhm had undergone an operation on her intervertebral disc last year and had to take a long break. She is now back on course with her foresailor and has set the motto for all members of the German Sailing Team: "The clear goal for the season is to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games at the Sailing World Championships in the Olympic disciplines in Aarhus in August." Frederike Loewe (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Anna Markfort (Joersfelder Segel Verein) completed the remarkably good German result in Spain with 10th place.

However, there were no more top results to celebrate on Mallorca. Which is easy to explain, as nine of the eleven current Olympic squad athletes were missing so early in the season on the Balearic island! Study commitments, injuries or training commitments in other areas meant that there were no other German participants in medal races this time in normally successful DSV disciplines. "Against this background," said DSV Vice President Torsten Haverland, "the start of the season has nevertheless provided us with a number of important insights. The homework books are full, the coaches and crews know what they have to work on. The highlight of the season this year is Aarhus - that's when it counts for the German Sailing Team!"