Sailing World Championship: Buhl opens safely, Spanish armada suffers setback

Laser sailor Philipp Buhl has made a successful start to the Sailing World Championships off Aarhus. The World Cup and Kieler Woche winner opened his battle for the World Championship crown convincingly with 4th and 3rd place overall. "That was solid," said the 28-year-old from Sonthofen, "I had good starts, was always in the top five at the first turning mark and didn't let anything get in the way after that."

After World Championship bronze (2013) and World Championship silver (2015), Buhl had clearly defined his goal before the start of the title fights: "I'm longing for the World Championship title." Immediately after the races, Buhl was asked to undergo a doping test in Aarhus harbour. Which happens regularly in Olympic sailing. This did not dampen his joy: "I am very happy with this start." The Hamburg 470 sailors Fabienne Oster and Anastasiya Winkel (5th) from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and the Berlin Finn dinghy helmsman Phillip Kasüske (9th) from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club also catapulted themselves into the top ten of their fleets with strong performances.

The Spanish team, on the other hand, suffered a serious setback in the battle for medals and Olympic starting places even before their skiff sailors started the World Championships. Because their three 49er teams came too close to a fast catamaran ferry on the last day of training and the ferry had to change course and slow down considerably, the teams were disqualified from their first World Championship race on Saturday. Their coach is not allowed to coach his sailors on the water during the first four days of the World Championships.

The incident was reported to the organisers, who decided to protest against the crews. The penalty was imposed following a lengthy hearing. Among those penalised in this way are two co-favourites of the 49er fleet: the Alonso brothers and Diego Botin/Diago Marra. Federico Alonso, bronze medallist at the last World Championships, said: "Of course we made a mistake, but the penalty seems very harsh for an unintentional infringement of the rules before the races have even started." The three teams had seen the ferry coming and tried to avoid it, but were unable to get far enough away in time.

On the third day of the World Championships for all ten Olympic disciplines and the kiters, the skiff fleets will also be challenged. The DSV crews are among the favourites in both the women's and men's events and, like their team-mates, will be fighting to secure their places on the 2021 Olympic regatta in Enoshima, Japan.