The World Cup regatta in Hyères will not go down as a brilliant week in the history of the German Sailing Team. After a whole series of successes at the start of the season in France, the German sailing team is having a harder time than expected. This is due to a number of illnesses and also to the unusually light winds in the otherwise so formidable sailing area off Hyères, which only presented more constant conditions for the first time on Thursday. Philipp Buhl, who was suffering from a severe cold, was unable to call on his skills in the unstable winds of the first three days. It was only on the fourth day of the competition that the world number five from Sonthofen managed to break free with a brilliant race win and a 7th place.
As a result, the 28-year-old moved up from the bottom of the rankings to 10th place two races before the Laser medal race on Sunday. "That's better," said the German Sailing Team's active spokesman, who had been struggling with a sore throat and aching limbs, chills and a stuffy nose for days, but is now feeling increasingly better. Just how difficult the light winds in France have been for the athletes in all ten Olympic disciplines so far is shown, for example, by the interim results of Laser double world champion Nick Thompson. In seventeenth place after eight of ten races, the Brit has little chance of reaching Sunday's final.
The otherwise strong German 49erFX crews have already missed their final. Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz as well as Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke caught the same virus in a whirlpool shortly before the start of the World Cup regatta. Physically handicapped in this way, it was not enough for the world number one from Berlin and the European champions Lutz/Beucke to qualify for the medal race in their discipline, which takes place today.
While there are no German starters in the two surfing disciplines, the Finn Dinghy, the Nacra17 and the Paralympic 2.4 Norlin OD class off Hyères, the 470 sailors Frederike Loewe and Anna Markfort have so far produced the best DSV interim result. The Berliners from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club and the Joersfelder Segel-Club are in fourth place after seven races and have every chance of challenging for a place on the podium one day before the final. The only 22-year-old NRV helmswoman Fabienne Oster and Anastasiya Winkel have also attracted attention with strong individual results in the 470 women's field, who were in fourth place in the world-class field and are now fighting for a place in Sunday's final in fifteenth place.
For the German 470 men, on the other hand, the road to the final has become a long one. One day and up to three races before the medal final, Simon Diesch and Philipp Autenrieth were in 15th place on Saturday morning, while their team-mates Malte Winkel and Matti Cipra were in tenth place. In the absence of the top German 49er crews Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel and Justus Schmidt/Max Boehme, the 49er medal race will take place today without German participation. Laser Radial helmswoman Svneja Weger coped better with the predominantly light winds. The experienced 2014 European champion from the Potsdam Yacht Club was in 10th place two races before the medal race and thus kept her chances of reaching the final alive.
Above all, the favourites for the medal races this Saturday in the Nacra17, 49erFX, 49er, Finn and 2.4 Norlin OD disciplines will be on show
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
