470 Mixed World Championship: Diesch/Markfort remain strong, Wanser/Autenrieth advance
The qualifying races of the 470 Mixed World Championship are over. The best German crew after five races are Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort, who confidently defended their third place behind two Japanese crews with 3rd and 7th place on Wednesday. With twelve net points, the Germans with sail number 11 are only two points behind the leaders Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort's gross result of 19 points before the start of the main round on Thursday is even the best of the entire World Championship fleet of 61 boats from 25 countries.
Anna Markfort said after the second qualifying day with a view to the main round: "The gold fleet means a higher performance density. Of course, it's great that we haven't allowed ourselves to slip up so far. However, we can't rest on our laurels. We haven't even completed half of the races yet. That's why in the coming days, as before, we have to think from race to race."
Challenging World Cup conditions in the bay of Palma
Anna Markfort, who also races for the Joersfelder Segel-Club, described the sailing conditions on Wednesday as similarly challenging as at the start of the World Championship: "Today the wind came from even further to the right, so even more offshore. Many rain fronts had a significant influence on the wind strength. The first race was started in less than 10 knots. A good 15 knots came in for the second cross. The wind dropped again for the second race, but not below ten knots."
The World Cup participants are expecting some changes in the weather for the start of the main round. Anna Markfort explains: "It finally looks sunny for tomorrow, although this may have an impact on the northern gradient. So it will be exciting tomorrow to see what the bay has to offer. I don't think you can rely on any forecasts, you have to sail pretty classically with what you have."
We're going into attack mode. Every point counts" (Luise Wanser)
Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) did the same on Wednesday. And they were successful. With 10th and 3rd place, the 2022 World Champions catapulted themselves from 31st to 19th place. Hamburg helmswoman Luise Wanser said before the start of the main World Championship round on Thursday: "I think the racing will really start tomorrow in the Goldfleet. The points are all pretty close together. And we have a different wind direction from tomorrow, different conditions. We can probably expect an onshore seabreeze. And then it will be exciting again. We're going into attack mode. Every point counts."
Five German crews in the gold fleet
Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee) were 16th and therefore the second-best German crew in the World Championship main round. Theres Dahnke/Matti Cipra (Plauer Wassersportverein) and Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) will also be sailing in the gold fleet from Thursday.
After a botched start on Wednesday, the Winkel sailing couple were able to improve with two eighth places, but have not yet found their best form. The silver medallists of the Olympic test regatta in Marseille 2023 only just made it into the gold fleet in 30th place in qualifying. Known as late starters at major events, the Winkels' form curve pointed upwards on day two of the World Championships.
We know that we are the hunters now" (Malte Winkel)
"We were able to improve today, but we still left too many points behind," said helmsman Malte Winkel. He expects very little wind on Thursday and hoped in the evening that two races could be held at all. The Winkels' strategy is clear. Malte Winkel says: "We are further back, so strategically we will go into the main round with a more attacking mood and perhaps also with a little more risk. To make up points, we have to sail to top positions. We know that we can do that. We know that we are now the hunters."
Other favourites are also struggling
It was unfortunate that Malte Winkel "lifted" his back on a half-wind section on Wednesday because he wanted to quickly pull the spinnaker a little higher in a race. "It shot up my back a bit when I was pulling. But we have good physiotherapy here. I hope that this won't affect us in the coming days. Luckily there won't be much wind tomorrow, so hopefully we can compensate well."
The 470 Mixed World Championship continues on Thursday with the first races for the gold and silver fleets. The world championships end on 3 March. The example of the Swedish 2023 European champions shows how difficult it is for other top crews to compete in front of Mallorca so early in the season: Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson finished 25th in the gold fleet.
Lara Vadlau and Lukas Mähr, on the other hand, starting for Austria in tenth place in the main round, mastered the challenging conditions on Wednesday with 30-degree winds and wind speeds of up to 16 knots with aplomb.
