World Championship Laser Standard: Buhl fights, starts the final in fourth place

The starting position is good. Philipp Buhl made sure of that on Monday: with 11th, 11th and 2nd place, the Sonthofen native defended his fourth place with 37 points and is the first chaser to enter the final. The cards are interestingly distributed ahead of the last two races on Tuesday. The interim leader Pavlos Kontides (15 points) regained the lead on Monday with strong individual results of 2, 1 and 5, but remains burdened by two heavyweight strikes (DNS/26th) and cannot afford another slip-up on the final day, while Buhl is currently only in tenth place.

The Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (50 points), who was still leading on Monday morning, had fallen to seventh place by Monday evening with 30th, 2nd and 40th place. Australian Olympic champion Tom Burton (30 points) is in second place ahead of his attacking compatriot Matthew Wearn (31 points) ahead of the showdown in Split. Behind fourth-placed Philipp Buhl, the Swede Jesper Stahlheim (45 points) and the British double world champion Nick Thompson (48 points) are hoping for their chance.

The wind forecast for the final day predicts around 13 to 15 knots of wind from north-northeast to southeast, hard right-handed, between 11 am and 5 pm. If this wind really comes, Philipp Buhl will welcome it. The 27-year-old would love to add another piece of precious metal to his World Championship medal collection. He won his first World Championship medal in 2013 with bronze, followed by silver in 2015. The German Sailing Team's most consistent performer and active spokesman for the national team is, in his own words, "in the game". It comes to an end on Tuesday afternoon. And will probably only be decided in the twelfth and final race.

Click here for the results