Olympic sailing: Solo for Buhl - rewarded with World Cup silver

Philipp Buhl started the medal race of the World Cup final off Santander in third place on Sunday. His clear goal: to defend his medal! But after a weak start, it even looked as if the Sonthofen native would fall off the podium. For a long time, the helmsman from the Alpsee-Immenstadt sailing club struggled in shifting light winds at the back of the fleet. But then Buhl set off on a furious final spurt with a beat on the left side of the course. On the last downwind section of the course, he improved from eighth to fourth place. He was rewarded with silver!

Apart from Buhl and Laser Radial helmswoman Pauline Liebig (21st), no other DSV sailors had found their way to Santander; they were either not qualified for the World Cup final or had to stay away from the regatta due to clashing schedules. The World Cup final therefore turned into an impressive solo performance for the world number one, who has started the post-Olympic season in top form with his new coach Alex Schlonski.

Buhl was only beaten by France's Jean-Baptiste Bernaz before Santander and was able to relegate the American Charlie Buckingham to third place. Strong nerves, combative and in a good mood, Germany's best Laser sailor demonstrated that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years and with a view to the 2020 Olympic Games. Buhl is likely to have extended his lead in the world rankings with his silver success in Spain. Despite his success, the fair player from the Allgäu region was also critical after the medal race: "The start line wasn't laid out very well and the umpires were hyper-sensitive and therefore intervened a lot in the medal decisions. In this case, I benefited from this once, but it's actually nicer when a final ends clearly and cleanly."

In Santander, Buhl had worked with Sir Ben Ainslie's former gold coach David Howlett as a special measure. "David wasn't able to tell me any big secrets, but gave me lots of little hints and advice and gave me a lot of self-confidence," reported Buhl in Spain. The fact that the active spokesperson for the German Sailing Team was able to prevail in the final thriller in light and shifty wind conditions and in complex current conditions should give the strong wind lover an additional boost. A reunion with Buhl and many sailors from the national sailing team will take place at Kieler Woche from 15 to 25 June.