With a bravely sailed race and the right confidence in his own good feeling for wind shifts, Philipp Buhl earned the medal he had hoped for at the World Championship in the Bay of Aarhus. After an unlucky ninth race the day before, the Sonthofen native used the tenth and final race of the Laser Gold fleet to make a comeback on Thursday. With fifth place, the world number two also moved up to fifth place in the overall standings and is now the first German starter at these world championships to make it to a final of the top ten boats.
"That's what I wanted. I'm grateful that I managed to catch up with the leading group again today," said the 28-year-old world number two, who was able to smile again in Aarhus harbour on Thursday. Although the Cypriot Pavlos Kontides (41 points) and the Australian Matthew Wearn (45 points) will probably compete for the World Championship crown in the duel, Buhl (64 points) can still win bronze in the double medal final. To do so, he must be three places higher in the final than Elliot Hanson (60 points), who is ahead of him, and one place higher than Rio bronze medallist Sam Meech (63 points) from New Zealand (63 points). Olympic champion Tom Burton from Australia was disqualified overnight from the ninth race and, in sixth place, is 13 points behind Philipp Buhl ahead of the final.
Buhl was positive about his chances in the battle for bronze: "I'm not under any pressure, I've been given another chance. I'm going to fight for it all the way through the final." Could bronze then perhaps feel like the gold medal he had his sights on before the start of the World Championships? "I'll be able to say tomorrow," replies Buhl with an aggressive smile. While the ten best laser sailors brought their boats into the exclusion zone for participants in the medal race, some of them were still busy in the jury room during the parade. Elliot Hanson from Great Britain lodged a protest against Kiwi Sam Meech after the race. A possible disqualification could still change the starting position of the participants in the Laser medal race and therefore also that of Philipp Buhl.
UPDATE: In the evening, the jury upheld the protest of Great Britain's Elliot Hansen and disqualified New Zealander Sam Meech from race 10 after the two boats made contact. As a result, Philipp Buhl moves up to fourth place ahead of the medal race. Sam Meech dropped back to fifth place with a total of 75 points. Although the protest decision indirectly favoured Philipp Buhl, the German Sailing Team's active spokesman, who is friends with Meech, said: "This decision hurts my soul."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
