Sailing World Championship: Buhl sails onto the World Championship podium: "I'm happy with bronze today"

Laser sailor Philipp Buhl has won bronze at the World Championships in the Danish bay of Aarhus. With third place in the confidently sailed medal final of the best ten of the 165 Laser helmsmen, Buhl ousted the Brit Elliot Hanson from third place at the World Championships. In the duel for gold, the Cypriot Pavlos Kontides prevailed against the Australian Matthew Wearn.

In the strange medal race, strong winds and gusts of up to 30 knots as well as a rough short wave initially challenged the final participants. Britain's Michael Beckett capsized before the starting signal. In the second half of Buhl's cleverly contested race, the wind dropped to five or six knots. When Buhl's rival Hanson, who was already in last place, also conceded a penalty, the duel for bronze was decided in Buhl's favour. "It went very well today," said the 28-year-old from Sonthofen, beaming after the race. "I had set myself the goal of winning the World Championship title, but that's no mean feat in a field of our strength. I'm very happy about bronze today."

It was the first World Championship medal for the 60-strong German Sailing Team at the World Championships for all ten Olympic disciplines and kiters with 1,400 athletes from 85 nations. This is Buhl's third podium finish at the World Championships following bronze in 2013 and silver in 2015. His goal for Tokyo 2020 remains unchanged: "I still want to become world champion or Olympic champion."

In the late afternoon, the German skiff sailors and mixed catamaran crews, who were also on course for a medal, were still in action in the World Championship area of Aarhus. They missed the medal ceremony with their team-mates, but many other sailors from the German Sailing Team were there when Philipp Buhl jumped onto the podium and won his bronze medal to the applause of thousands of fans and spectators at the Aarhus International Sailing Centre.