Laser vice world champion Philipp Buhl has won the World Cup regatta off Hyères in France in the style of a champion. With his victory a good three months before the start of the Olympic regatta, the leader of the German national sailing team put an exclamation mark behind his Olympic medal ambitions and showed that he is at least increasingly able to cope with light and shifty wind conditions.
While Buhl's team-mates in the Audi Sailing Team Germany were unable to sail anywhere near the podium this time, the active spokesman from Sonthofen impressed with a strong-nerved performance in different conditions and also coped well with an unsuccessful day. In the medal final, second place was enough for the 26-year-old helmsman from Segelclub Alpsee-Immenstadt to take a convincing overall victory.
After his World Cup victory, Germany's most successful Olympic sailor is taking a lot of motivation with him into the last three months until the Olympic regatta off Rio de Janeiro on 8 August
Buhl's Berlin coach Thomas Piesker said: "That was great! And it was important for our final spurt in preparation for the Olympic Games. Philipp is fully back and his victory gave him important self-confidence and security for Rio." Piesker was particularly impressed by Buhl's performance in the medal race, which started stormy and ended in two knots of wind: "Philipp drove the race home very confidently."
Buhl himself said: "That gave me a little boost in the right direction again. I was particularly pleased with some very successful starts. That was a very important step for me." After a short but welcome three-day break in Kiel, Buhl will be heading straight on to the Laser World Championship off Mexico from 12 to 18 May. He said: "Winning a medal there would be fantastic! The sailing area is comparable to the one in Oman, where I won bronze in 2014, so it's a light to medium wind area."
"A small miracle is actually due now"
On missing out on a Nacra 17 Olympic ticket, the active spokesman for the German Olympic sailors said: "It would be an incredible shame if neither of the teams were to go to the Olympic Games. From my point of view, this is the worst possible scenario, because I would give both teams a chance in the final. The fact that they both didn't make it is one thing above all else: it went badly. And there was also material breakage in the game. A small miracle is actually due now that would lead to participation in the Olympics after all." In the official press release from Sailing Team Germany and the DSV, the statement on the narrowly missed Nacra 17 Olympic ticket at least left a hint of air for this small miracle. It said: "Neither of the two teams (ed.: Kohlhoff/Werner and Erichsen/Spitzmann) managed to place among the top ten nations after the races at the World Cup off Hyères and thus fulfil the DOSB standard. It remains to be seen what the DOSB will decide in this case."
Germany's participation in two sailing classes at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, however, has been certain since the weekend. Heiko Kröger will be going for his fifth gold medal in Rio since his first in 2000. The exact team composition in the Sonar class will be announced at the end of May.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
