Olympic sailing: Now in his element as a hunter

For Philipp Buhl, the battle for the medals at the World Championships is now getting tight. The helmsman from the Alpsee-Immenstadt sailing club continued his "rollercoaster course" on the penultimate day of the title fights and added the points for one very good and one botched race to his World Championship account. The Allgäuer has scored 76 points in a dozen races so far - too many to reach for the title. "But I'm still within striking distance of the medals. The whole long series is about the mammoth mental task of having a chance of winning a medal on the last day. If I can get everything out of tomorrow as the hunter, then almost anything is possible."

Ahead of Buhl, defending champion Nick Thompson is clearly in the lead with 34 points and on course for gold. Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernaz, who usually performs with great fluctuations in major series, is in second place after six days with 53 points. In third place, the Cypriot Pavlos Kontides is waiting for his chance with 65 points. Australian Matthew Wearn is tied on points with Kontides and still has hopes of a medal, as does nine-time Laser World Champion and double Olympic winner Robert Scheidt (74 points) and Philipp Buhl. The latter had delivered another gala performance of his skills in race 11 with third place, but touched a turning mark in race 12. As a result of the penalty, Buhl was unable to finish higher than 25th despite a great recovery from one of the last places in the gold fleet.

Two regular final races are planned for the final day on Thursday night German time. Coach Thomas Piesker had this to say about Buhl's performance so far and his prospects for the final: "The term rollercoaster ride describes the course of events so far quite well. But so far Philipp has done a great job of dealing with the pressure and getting round all the small and large hurdles that stand in his way. We will give everything for a 'World Championship 2015 reloaded'." Piesker is alluding to Buhl's memorable final sprint at the 2015 World Championships, when his protégé started the final race in fifth place, won the race and surprisingly took silver. Piesker is focussing on one of Buhl's special skills: "Philipp likes to hunt. We know that the last few days suit us. And the competition knows that too. As long as nobody has a medal around their neck, we'll be fighting for one."

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