At the World Championship for the Olympic disciplines 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17, two Kiwis once again take centre stage in the American venue of Clearwater: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are New Zealand's ultimate answers to Olympic and America's Cup challenges. As expected, the duo also dominated the world title fights in the 49er in Florida. Burling and Tuke have not lost a major regatta since their silver medal in England - gold went to the Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. The high-flyers from the land of the long white cloud are racing from victory to victory and nobody quite knows how to stop them in August before Rio.
The New Zealanders have dominated the World Championship preliminary round so far with six wins on the day, a third and an eleventh place. With just eleven points in their World Championship account, Burling and Tuke, who have sparked a new wave of euphoria for Olympic sailing and the America's Cup in their home country, have an incredible 28-point lead over their long-time Australian rivals and former instructors Nathan Outteridge and his co-skipper Iain Jensen ahead of the final two days of the World Championship. Hardly anyone believes that the New Zealand world sailors of 2015 can still be denied another world championship gold. The general belief is that these two exceptional athletes can only beat themselves at the moment.
The quality of the ideally composed athletic crew, which not only has an outstanding helmsman in Burling, but also a clever man in foresailor Tuke, who himself was world champion in the 29er in 2009, is reminiscent of the superiority of Sir Ben Ainslie. The Briton, who has become the most successful Olympic sailor in sporting history with four gold medals and one silver, is now competing for the America's Cup for his home country. Just like Burling and Tuke for New Zealand. Team boss Grant Dalton brought them into the New Zealanders' America's Cup team to replace the former skipper Dean Barker (now head of the America's Cup campaign SoftBank Team Japan). With Burling and Tuke, who have just joined the team, the Kiwis won the 2015 America's Cup World Series as if it were "just" a 49er regatta. Emirates Team New Zealand is pursuing the same goal for 2016. Not even the double burden of the America's Cup and the Olympics seems to be affecting Burling and Tuke. On the contrary: the multiple commitments - Burling is also the Moth World Champion - seem to only make the invincibles even better.
"They sail outstandingly well," Berlin 49er helmsman Erik Heil also attested to the Kiwi competition at the start of the year, "it will be very difficult to beat them, but we have come closer to them in the last two years. The plan is to beat them at the Olympic Games." Heil also draws his motivation for this ambitious goal from the character of the Olympic arena in Rio de Janeiro. It is moody, almost diva-like and is considered difficult to predict with its currents, changing winds and different courses. Therein lies the opportunity for Burling and Tuke's opponents. "The area suits us," says Heil, "we have a lot of fun sailing in these complicated conditions."
To get there, however, Heil and Plößel would first have to beat their friends and training partners Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme from Kiel in the national Olympic elimination. The Berliners, who race for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, are leading the elimination after two of three regattas with a four-point lead over the younger crew from the Kieler Yacht-Club. Unlike the 49erFX sailors, the current World Championship off Clearwater is not an elimination regatta for the 49er men. The decision in the battle for the Rio ticket in the 49er will be made at the Spanish classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía off Palma de Mallorca from 25 March to 2 April. Whoever prevails in the German-German duel will meet Burling and Tuke at the latest before Rio, for whom anything other than Olympic gold would be a huge disappointment.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
