Olympic elimination: 470 thriller ahead - the battle for an Olympic ticket begins with the World Championships

For the German Sailing Team, the strong performance in the new Olympic sailing discipline 470 Mixed is a blessing, but for some crews it could also be a curse. At least three German crews are performing at world-class level in the 470 mixed. Each of these three crews has excelled at top international events over the past two years. Only one of them will be able to secure a starting place in the 470 at the Olympic regatta in Marseille next summer.

All three top crews have already recommended themselves for the Games of their lives: Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) sailed to World Championship gold in Israel in 2022. Wanser's former Olympic foresailor Anastasiya Winkel and her husband and helmsman Malte Winkel (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Schweriner Yacht-Club) came out on top in the German qualifiers for the Olympic test regatta in Marseille last year. There they showed with silver that they could achieve great things at the Olympics. And last but not least, Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) also turned in a strong performance last year, winning silver at the 2023 European Championships and Kiel Week.

Three world-class crews, but only one Olympic ticket

Together, these three GER crews, under the direction of DSV coach Steve Lovegrove, form the world's strongest training group in the 470 Mixed. On their "Road to Paris 2024", they have hardly let themselves be scrutinised by the international competition, only competing in a minimum of coach regattas with the leading teams from other nations. From 26 February, the early World Championships in the Olympic year in the Bay of Palma will show what the intensive German path is worth.

In addition to the top three German crews, Theres Dahnke/Matti Cipra (Plauer Wassersportverein), Theresa Löffler/Christopher Herr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee) and Laura Pukropski/Thorben Schlüter (Fürstenberger Yachtclub/Seglervereinigung 1903 Berlin) will also be competing for the German Sailing Team from Tuesday. The World Championship series up to the medal final on 3 March will show whether one of these three up-and-coming crews can seriously challenge the medallists in their own team in the upcoming national elimination.

We know what we want to achieve together: a medal for German sailing" (Steve Lovegrove)

Coach Steve Lovegrove gave a positive assessment of the preparations before the start of the World Championships. He has high hopes for his protégés in the World Championship battle of 64 crews from 26 nations and said in Palma de Mallorca: "We know what we want to achieve together: a medal for German sailing. All our crews can be self-confident. They have what it takes."

The reinvigorated parade class

In addition to the sporting and technical cooperation, the German 470 mixed group had already forged a pact at the beginning of the joint Olympic preparation that should last until the decision on the allocation of the Olympic 470 mixed ticket: maximum fairness and mutual respect right up to the elimination final.

With six crews, the German Sailing Team is one of the two largest teams at the 470 Mixed World Championship alongside Great Britain - another sign of the resurgence of the former German showpiece discipline, in which German players have won ten World Championship gold medals since 1982. Wolfgang Hunger sailed to the World Championship title twice in 1990 and 1991 with Rolf "Rocky" Schmidt.

The double coup was also achieved by Susanne Meyer and Katrin Adlkofer in 1987 and 1989 and Ines Bohn and Sabine Rohatzsch in 1993 and 1994, who were still competing under their maiden names at the time. 27 years of drought followed before a German team, Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth, became world champions again in 2022 and opened the new era of the two-person dinghy as a mixed discipline, which has been an Olympic sport since 1976 (men) and 1988 (women), with maximum success for German sailing.

Weaknesses minimised, performance gaps closed

Who will score the best points at the World Championships off Mallorca from 27 February and take the lead in the national elimination in the battle for the Olympic ticket? Wanser/Autenrieth (sail number 10), Diesch/Markfort (sail number 11), Winkel/Winkel (sail number 13) or even one of the chasing crews from their own camp? Coach Steve Lovegrove is naturally unable to answer this question, as they are all his protégés.

The sailors themselves unanimously say that they have become even closer to each other in terms of performance after the intensive winter training on Lanzarote. This is also logical, as they have all worked intensively on their different weaknesses. The most experienced sailor in the German squad after 15 years of competitive sport is 30-year-old Anastasiya Winkel. Having grown up in Alchevsk in eastern Ukraine, she was a competitive swimmer at a young age before taking off in sailing at the age of twelve.

"I loved sailing straight away," she remembers. It was the final day of the 2014 Junior World Championships that changed her life. At the victory ceremony, the then 19-year-old sports science student, who came ninth under her maiden name Krasko with helmswoman Anna Kyselova, fell in love with the German bronze medallist of the men's competition. The 30-year-old has been married to her husband and cox Malte Winkel since 2017 and has been a German citizen since 18 March 2021.

The "Wild 13" and the dream of gold

The Winkels have been in the same boat for two and a half years. In sporting terms, they are regarded as strong-nerved all-rounders. With silver at the Olympic dress rehearsal last summer, they put a big exclamation mark on their ambitions. Sailing number 13 is supposed to bring them luck. Anastasiya says: "Malte's birthday is 13 November 1993. We both grew up with the house number 13. Malte here and me in the Ukraine."

"We always call them the Wild 13," says Luise Wanser and laughs. The 26-year-old is fighting for her Olympic chance in a reverse constellation: she is steering, Philipp Autenrieth is the foresailor. The petite, tough lawyer grew up in Paris before her family came to Hamburg and Luise took off in the Optimist at the age of ten at the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein on the Alster. 16 years later, Luise Wanser's Olympic dream is more alive than ever. "Since I was a child, I've always had the image of myself with a gold medal around my neck under the Arc de Triomphe, where the Tour de France winners were always crowned."

We have moved closer together once again" (Anna Markfort)

"We feel very well prepared and believe that the intensive winter training on Lanzarote has brought us even closer together within our group," says Luise Wanser, looking ahead to the start of the tough elimination. "Yes, we've moved even closer together," says foresailor Anna Markfort. After the narrow defeat in the Olympic qualifiers for the 2021 Games in Japan, where she and helmswoman Frederike Loewe had to bow to Luise Wanser and Anastasiya Winkel, who would later finish sixth at the Olympics, the 30-year-old wants to give it another go alongside Simon Diesch, 29.

Golden family history

The son of Flying Dutchman Olympic champion Eckart Diesch, who sailed to gold with his brother Jörg Diesch in the Canadian waters of Kingston in 1976, had previously formed a team with Philipp Autenrieth. The 470 mixed discipline will only replace the previously divided men's and women's fields with its premiere at the Summer Games this year.

Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort form an interesting team that started out with noticeable strong wind advantages, but now has a good grasp of the entire spectrum of 470 sailing. Looking at the national competition and after winter training, Anna Markfort says with a smile: "The gaps that might have existed in certain wind conditions a year ago have become much smaller. Everyone has got better in winds that were perhaps more difficult for them before. To put it another way: Nobody can rely on their chocolate conditions anymore."

Crime thriller finale at the Cannes Film Festival

According to Markfort, the introduction of the Olympic mixed variant has been good for 470 sailing: "The level of performance has risen significantly internationally. I've never raced in such strong fields as I do now." This has had positive consequences, as Markfort explains: "Both Simon and I are really enjoying sailing at the moment. It's an enormous pleasure. I believe that will carry us through."

The luxury situation of the three top teams at world level now leads to a three-way or even multi-competition on the Olympic home straight, which may only have one winner, although several crews could win an Olympic medal. The elimination series will continue after the World Championships at the Spanish classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía at the beginning of April in the same area and will end on 12 May with the European Championship final in Cannes. The film festival has just started there. The German 470 crews could provide their very own pre-Olympic thriller on the big stage on the French Riviera.

Golden memories! In 2022, Lusie Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth sailed to World Championship gold in Israel:

Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort in an interview before the 2023 European Championship final, when they won silver: