The German sailing team for the Olympic Games is almost complete: after Philipp Buhl (Laser), Toni Wilhelm (RS:X Surfing), Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel (49er) and Victoria Jurczok/Anika Lorenz (49erFX), the two 470 crews Ferdinand Gerz/Oliver Szymanski (Munich/Berlin) and Annika Bochmann/Marlene Steinherr (Berlin) have also fulfilled the qualification requirements of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). Despite mediocre results, the two 14th places of the two best German 470 crews at the European Championships off Palma de Mallorca were enough to get them over the final qualification hurdle. This means that seven Berlin sailors are already on course for Rio de Janeiro.
"We're not at all satisfied with our European Championship result because we weren't able to deliver our top performance," said defending champion Ferdinand Gerz, "but the anticipation of Rio outweighs that." Ferdi Gerz from Segler Verein Wörthsee is heading for the Olympics for the second time after 2012 with his new co-skipper Oliver Szymanski from Joersfelder Segel-Club and had already started the last regatta of the three-part national elimination series with a reassuring points cushion.
The starting situation was more difficult for Annika Bochmann and Marlene Steinherr, who had to fend off strong international competition in the last of their three qualifying regattas in order to achieve at least 10th place in the nations ranking - as required of Olympic starters by the DOSB. After two "expensive" early starts off Mallorca, the crew from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club were only able to celebrate the fulfilment of the DOSB criteria on the last day of the European Championships before the medal races on Tuesday. The 30-year-old foresailor Marlene Steinherr commented emotionally on the rollercoaster ride through the results list: "The European Championship was a daily struggle for us too. The long, difficult journey to get here is finally over. We are looking forward to the big 'chunk' that now lies ahead of us."
The qualified teams can expect the German Sailing Association (DSV) to propose them to the DOSB for nomination after final consultation. The German Nacra 17 sailors will be the last to compete to fulfil the DOSB criteria at the Semaine Olympique off Hyères from 25 April to 1 May. Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner from the Kiel Yacht Club have the best prospects. They will start their final elimination regatta with an eight-point lead over Jan Hauke Erichsen and Lea Spitzmann from Flensburg. In addition to their national rivals, the German mixed catamaran sailors have to fear the international competition above all. They too must have achieved a place in the top ten nations in the nations' ranking at the end of the three regattas set for the elimination. Kohlhoff/Werner are close to achieving this before their big final.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
