Sailing World Championship: Aarhus tests the World Championship fleet with light winds at the start

The national flags of the 85 participating nations initially hung limply from the masts in the new modern harbour district of Aarhus Ø at the start of the Sailing World Championships for Olympians and kiters. The mirror-smooth water rippled slowly at the foot of the new Aarhus International Sailing Centre. The sailors were ready, but not the weather: after many weeks of first-class sailing conditions in the Bay of Aarhus, there was no wind on the first day of the eagerly awaited world championships for all ten Olympic sailing disciplines and the kiters. The first races in the Finn, 470 men's and women's classes could only be held on Thursday after a two-hour delay in sometimes extremely flat conditions. For the German Sailing Team, it was not a perfect start, although individual sailors were able to make their mark.

How the start of the Sailing World Championships for Olympians and kiters was celebrated in Denmark

In particular, the 470 sailors Frederike Loewe/Anna Markfort (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Nadine Boehm/Ann-Christin Goliaß (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club), who had just won silver and bronze at the European Championships, initially had to settle for 21st (19, 25) and 24th (13, 33). "That wasn't the start we had imagined. We knew it would be difficult. But it's still far from over. There's still room for improvement," said a combative Anna Markfort. Malte Winkel and Matti Cipra (Schwerin) are the best German 470 team after just one race in their group in 18th place in the intermediate classification.

In the Finn dinghy, on the other hand, Phillip Kasüske (Berlin) and Simon Gorgels (Schwabach) both performed well in their groups with seventh places. They continued their streak in the field of 90 Finn helmsmen from 41 nations on Friday from 13th and 14th place. The fact that the nerve-wracking conditions did not result in a pure lottery was proven by the front runners in all three disciplines.

While the words "happy", "spinning" and "tricky" flew around the harbour apron in the evening faster than in a casino, the rankings showed that many top athletes in their classes were also able to cope with the complicated conditions: The only men's 470 race of the day was won by the Swedish European champions Anton Dahlberg and Frederik Bergström ahead of the Greek Rio bronze medallists Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis and the Australian Olympic champions Matt Belcher and Will Ryan. In the women's 470, Rio bronze medallist Camille Lecointre came out on top with her new foresailor Alois Retornaz. The British Olympic champion Hannah Mills and her new foresailor Eilidh McIntyre, who will start their second day in eighth place, fared less well. In the Finn dinghy, top favourite Jorge Zarif is in the lead after the only race of the day. Both double Olympic champion Torben Greal and Laser legend Robert Scheidt were on hand to support their 25-year-old compatriot and Finn helmsman and wish him luck.

On Friday, the Laser Radial sailors and hopeful Philipp Buhl will also start the series with his Laser team-mates. The laser sailor from Allgäu led the German Sailing Team as flag bearer at the opening ceremony on Thursday evening and wants to fight for the World Championship title: "We're ready to go. I'm ready and looking forward to it."