World Championship 49er and 49erFX: Thriller finale: German skiff sailors fight for World Championship medals

The last world championship title in an Olympic boat class was won 17 years ago by Roland Gäbler and René Schwall in the Tornado in Sydney. Since then, German Olympic sailors have not won a world championship gold medal. Since then, the German Sailing Team has rarely come as close to a world championship crown as it did at the skiff world championships in Portugal. Now it is the World Championship of the 49er and 49erFX crews in Portugal, of all places, which has been plagued by capricious weather conditions and harbours some potential for precious metal from a German perspective.

In the area off Porto's trendy Matosinhos district, two consecutive days of racing fell victim to a persistent lull at the start of the World Championship. It was only on the third day that the 81 49er crews and the 56 40erFX crews were able to get started in their high-calibre fleets. Since then, German teams have been pushing hard in both the men's and women's races and have earned themselves serious medal chances. On the evening before the decision, a lot is still possible - from a title to medals to strong placings. The last final races and the medal races can be watched live on Saturday from 9.55 am. here be pursued.

The scenario is complicated: Three of the six scheduled race days for the 49er sailors have been cancelled. "That's crazy," said helmsman Justus Schmidt from Kiel, who is in third place with his skipper Max Boehme ahead of the final day with 13 points and level on points with the second-placed Spaniards Diego Botin and le Chever and Iago Lopez Marra. "We're optimistic going into the final," said Schmidt, "the interim result feels good and gives us confidence. The British have a small edge. We've got them on our radar. And we're keeping our feet on the ground." British frontrunners Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell are only four points ahead of the three teams behind them who are level on points. Their fourth-placed compatriots James Peters and Fynn Sterritt are also in fourth place with 13 points ahead of three teams with 14 points, including Rio bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel from Berlin. Ideally, the best 20 49er crews will complete four more final races tomorrow. Only then will the medal races with the top ten be allowed to start. If the six final races cannot be completed, the three short medal races will be cancelled and the new world champions will be crowned without them.

"In many respects, it's all or nothing tomorrow," said the experienced Erik Heil, who was not so sure on the eve of the decisions that the medal races for his fleet would take place on Saturday. But with or without them: The guarantors of success in the German 49er team are - once again after Olympic bronze in 2008 and 2016 - facing a big day and have it in their own hands to reach for World Championship medals. They have laid the foundations for this with compact, good performances on just two days of World Championship sailing. Heil even said: "We should have been further ahead, but we gave away up to eight points. We were stronger than the result shows." The outstandingly well-functioning training team of Heil/Plößel and Schmidt/Boehme as well as the upcoming talents is once again bearing fruit.

The German women will also be competing for World Championship medals on Saturday. Victoria Jurczok, who has had a severe cold for several days, and her foresailor Anika Lorenz will start the final day in fourth place. They are fighting. The women completed four tough races in high waves on the windy Friday. Unlike many of their competitors, Jurczok and Lorenz did not capsize on Friday. The women have come further in the shortened World Championship programme than the men so far. They are only two final races away from the possible start of the three medal races - a realistic task. If they succeed, the ten best 49erFX crews must and may complete a total of five races on Saturday.

The Danish women and Rio bronze medallists Jena Mai Hansen, who will soon be competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, and Katja Salskov-Iversen start the final day as favourites with only 14 points on their World Championship account. Behind the second-placed New Zealanders and Rio silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (19 points) are the Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (21 points) in third place. However, Kahena Kunze was injured on Friday and got stuck in the loop on the last run to the finish; there was a small question mark over her participation in the final the evening before. In fourth place, Berliners Vicky Jurczok and Anika Lorenz (32 points) are waiting for their chance in the final. The new European champions Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke (64 points) are ninth. Vicky Jurczok commented on the consistently good results of her team from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club: "The shorter courses are in our favour. They can't sail so far away from us on the cross. We are fast downwind." If they can be started, the medal races of the women's FX sailors will be on the programme on Saturday from 2 pm, the men's from 3 pm.