There it is again, the much-cited nerves of steel of Berlin 49erFX sailors Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz, who even say themselves that they can deliver top performances "when it really counts". The crew from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club took the lead on the third day of the world championships off Clearwater with such outstanding results that you would call it a resounding victory in football, even though it is only half-time at the world championships. That's why the new world championship leaders Jurczok/Lorenz are urging caution.
"It was a good start," helmswoman Victoria "Püppi" Jurczok told YACHT online, "but we have to keep our feet still. This was just the beginning and anything can still happen. We'll stay calm." Coach Max Groy and the women agree on their reasons for two race wins and 2nd and 5th place. Groy says: "Vicky and Anika have worked incredibly hard over the last six months, have developed a great technique and a very, very good feel for the boat." Jurczok agrees and added on the evening of the race: "We had a good feeling for the right sides today." What's more, the sporting soldiers shone in winds of four to eleven knots with outstanding boat speed.
With only nine points on their World Championship account, the Berliners, who could extend their lead in the national Olympic qualifiers at the World Championships, have a two-point lead over the Danes Maiken Foght Schütt and Anne-Jolie Schütt. The World Championships are also a qualifying regatta for the Olympic Games for the Danes. Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen experienced a fiasco here on Thursday with two early starts. The duo had helped to shape the 49erFX class for three years before now falling off the pace in the last year before the Olympic Games of all years.
Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke also had a good series on the third day of the World Championship with 5th, 6th, 6th and 7th places. The 49erFX helmswoman from Bavaria and her foresailor from Strande moved up to eighth place and are still fighting to catch up with Jurczok/Lorenz. Their team-mates Jule and Lotta Gröge are in 28th place, while Leonie Meyer and Elena Stoffers, who made such a strong start to the World Championship, fell to 38th place in the rather light winds on Thursday. The young sisters Ann Kristin and Pia Sophie Wedemeyer are ahead of them in 33rd place. The series will not continue on Friday with the main round as planned, but with another qualifying day, because not enough races have been organised so far in the extremely flat World Championship area, which has been plagued by capricious weather.
Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel are in tenth place in the 49er men's field. The World Championships are not an elimination regatta for them. Their training partners and team-mates Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme will have to start their race to catch up on Friday from 27th place. With places 27, 3, 16 and 19, the European champions from Kiel have not yet found their winning ways in the World Championship area.
Kiel's Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner were too cautious in the Nacra 17 on Thursday, failing to find their own lanes after a slow start to work their way forwards again. With 25th, 33rd and 25th places, the young duo sailed behind their own possibilities, but at the halfway stage of the World Championships they are in 13th place, defending their lead over Jan Hauke Erichsen and Lea Spitzmann from Flensburg (21st) in the current national Olympic qualification, which is the main focus for the German mixed catamaran crews at these title fights. The World Championships end on 14 February with the medal races in all three classes and will continue from this evening. here broadcast live.
