470 Mixed World Championships: “Well-deserved” – a chance of a medal for Löffler/Hoerr

At the 470 Mixed World Championships, a lot is different from usual. For a start, the medal race is being held on a Monday (17 August). Above all, however, it was this week’s particularly tricky and almost unpredictable light winds that repeatedly threw more than one crew from the German Sailing Team – as well as other top contenders – off their usual winning course. One German duo, however, has made it through: Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee) go into the two short medal final races at the start of the week in fourth place and are in contention for a World Championship medal.

470 Mixed World Championships: Disappointment rather than triumph in the former Olympic venue

For all the other crews in the national sailing team, the 470 Mixed World Championships came to a disappointing end this Sunday following five qualifying races and six races in the main round. Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Schweriner Yacht-Club/Schwerin Sailing Club) finished 17th – making them the second-best German pair at the former Olympic venue of Enoshima, where the German team won three Olympic medals in 2021 – but fell well short of their goal of reaching the final.

Malte Winkel described the challenges everyone faced: “The World Championships certainly featured difficult conditions throughout. The wind was extremely unpredictable, which caused problems for everyone. You can see that clearly from the results of the last two days. I don’t think we as a team have much to blame ourselves for, especially today. Unfortunately, in every race we lost the gamble on the first windward mark. Despite some very good starts, this meant we were among the bottom ten boats at the first windward mark in every race. We still managed to make the most of it today.”

Winkel and Batzing’s response to the constant battle they faced at their first major regatta together: “We never let our heads drop and fought our way back to the front, boat by boat. Of course, in such a large and strongly contested field, there isn’t much more to be gained. It’s obviously not enough to qualify for the Medal Race. But with this mindset, it’s only a matter of time before success comes our way!”

470 Mixed World Championships: a bitter setback on Course LA28

Winkel’s conclusion: “We’ve grown further as a team through this regatta. But I also want to be honest: for me, the disappointment at not having achieved our goal of qualifying for the Medal Race simply outweighs everything else right now. We’d set our sights high, and particularly with a view to optimal preparation for the coming year and the Olympic qualifiers, it’s naturally a bitter setback to have missed the squad selection criterion yet again. We’ll now take some time out and explore our options regarding funding and potential training groups.”

The reigning world silver medallists, Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Joersfelder Segel-Club), also ended the world championships on a disappointing note. Having won silver in the first major test event at the upcoming LA28 Olympic venue, they were aiming for a podium finish at the 470 Mixed World Championships too; having enjoyed a run of successes, they had rightly travelled to Enoshima with this ambition. Now, however, they have had to finish the World Championships in 21st place – a bitter disappointment for these consistent performers.

"Simon says we’ll take the Oli Kahn approach: ‘When things are going rubbish, they’re going rubbish.’" Anna Markfort

Anna Markfort said on Sunday in Enoshima: “To be honest, we don’t have a clear answer yet. We know we have the skills. We know we can compete at the front and that’s where we belong. But this time we just couldn’t get it right on the course. We struggled with the conditions and made the wrong decisions far too often. The result really hurts and we’re anything but happy with it. Of course, there were a few tears, and we might have had an ice cream in bed to cheer ourselves up, but that’s allowed – and necessary.”

The tough quest to find the path to success in the light-wind poker game at Enoshima

Anna Markfort is convinced: “Emotions are part and parcel of everything we invest in sport and our development – both the good ones and the not-so-good ones. I think we can be proud of ourselves in that, as a team, we haven’t lost our way. We’re both now looking forward to spending a bit of time at home with our loved ones, and then we’ll be back in Los Angeles in September for a bit more ‘soul sailing’. Tomorrow, though, it’s time to keep our fingers crossed for Thesi and Christo once again. They’ve both sailed brilliantly here so far.”

Theres Dahnke and Paco Melzer (Plauer Wassersportverein/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau), who had only just secured a strong fifth place in the world-class field at the first major test regatta in the upcoming LA28 Olympic venue, finished the World Championship week in 31st place. They, too, had hoped for a very different result. For all the top German crews apart from Löffler/Hoerr, these results present major hurdles, particularly with regard to squad selection for next year.

The majority of Germany’s top teams failed to find a winning formula at the 470 Mixed World Championships to cope with the conditions, which were at times very light, often highly shifty and frequently gusty, for which, following what had previously been more reliable training conditions, had been left in the wake of a typhoon during World Championship week. Even Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr – who, after the preliminary round, were in tenth place with a series of 15, 12, 4, 9 and a stage win in the main round – knew a thing or two about the struggle to find a winning formula in the unpredictable Japanese waters.

"The conditions are quite challenging." Theresa Löffler

On the final day of the main round, too, everyone faced some tough challenges once again. Helmswoman Theresa Löffler, whose crew ultimately ranked among the best Sunday pairs, described it as follows: “There were offshore winds again. The wind was shifting a lot and it was gusty. As a rule, it was difficult to predict what would happen next.” According to Theresa Löffler, the plan for the two prospective squad sailors in the German Sailing Team was therefore “to stay as calm as possible, wait for opportunities and make the most of them”.

Löffler/Hoerr: a flying start to victory in the final race of the main round

This proved highly effective in the final stages of these 470 Mixed World Championships. Commenting on her team’s performance, Theresa Löffler said: “We had poor starts in the first two races and then found it a bit difficult to get into our stride. But especially on the downwind legs and the second upwind legs, we fought our way back into contention. In the final race, we finally got off to a good start and were therefore able to race our own race. We also had the right instincts there. As the final race progressed, we then worked our way up from the leading group to take the lead.”

Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr have two short races left on Monday at the 470 Mixed World Championships to make their final push. Currently in fourth place, they have kept their medal hopes alive and head into the decisive races as the ones to beat. The standings are led by the British pair Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris, who have been in excellent form this season and who recently battled it out with Diesch/Markfort for victory at the test regatta in Los Angeles, ultimately coming out on top. In second place, the reigning Spanish world champions Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona will compete in Monday’s two medal finals, with the Japanese pair Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki in third.

Click here for the results and provisional standings at the 470 Mixed World Championships in Enoshima ahead of the final medal races.