A jibe that was set too late cost Toni Wilhelm an even better position in the third race of the first regatta day at the Olympics. The man from the Black Forest is in a good sixth place after three races and is optimistic going into the second day on Tuesday. "In principle it was a good start for me, but I was annoyed about my tactical mistake in the third race," said Wilhelm at his third and final Olympic start, in which he once again set his sights on the Olympic medal he so narrowly missed out on four years ago. Wilhelm was indeed fast in all three of his races. "There's nothing wrong with my speed," said the 33-year-old himself, "it was actually a great day, if it hadn't been for the late jibe in the third run." This threw him back from a top position to 13th place.
Unstable and strong winds pushed the surfers and laser sailors to the limit on Monday. Philipp Buhl paid tribute to the conditions with two 16th places. However, the 26-year-old Laser vice world champion commented on his performance in a combative manner: "You can't win Olympic Games on the first day, but you can lose them. I haven't lost them yet. The regatta is still long." Smiling, Buhl had booted up for the interview on Monday after the races and said almost defiantly: "I had fun sailing today. But 30-degree turns are also a power." One of these had cost him a few points. Brazil's Laser legend Robert Scheidt, who crossed the finish line in 23rd place at the start, but was able to make up for the slip-up with a race win in the second race, also had to realise how quickly you can get a mediocre result in the moody and unpredictable Rio area.
The Olympic hosts struggled unexpectedly on the first day with results services, good TV pictures and smooth processes. The broadcast of every German national league regatta on the internet is better than what the Olympics offered at the start. A lack of results feeds, poor camera angles and missed finishes annoyed viewers not only in Germany. In the live stream of the public broadcasters, sailing images even got mixed up with canoe commentary before ZDF's Nils Kaben took over and commented on the surfing. His initial assessment: "All beginnings are difficult. The images on offer were still a bit confused, the graphics even more so. We hope that things will stabilise."
The Olympic regatta continues on Tuesday with three more races for the surfers and two races for the laser sailors. On Wednesday, the German 470 men Ferdi Gerz and Oliver Szymanski, the 470 women Annika Bochmann and Marlene Steinherr and the Nacra 17 mixed crew Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner will get into the action. The German skiff sailors will have to wait until Friday before their Olympic premiere begins.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
