Olympics: Historic kite premiere, Buhl's medal dream shattered, Nacras in a rodeo ride
Olympic sailing showed a new side on day eight of the regatta in the Bay of Marseille, serving up a historic premiere: for the first time, the kiters sailed under the sign of the five rings. In both fleets, there are also strong German players at the start with Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters) and Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein).
Kite premiere at the Olympics: "Historic, wonderful!"
Jannis Maus reported on the euphoria caused by the foiling board tamers with their stunt kites on the beach in the fan zone and on the packed pier: "The atmosphere here is phenomenal, with over a thousand people on the pier alone. Every time you just launch the kite, you're cheered the whole time. The word historic fits very, very well. I really can't put it into better words than: historic, impressive, wonderful that I can represent and deliver Germany for the first time here in the neighbouring country!"
Both Leonie Meyer and Jannis Maus got off to a good start in the eagerly awaited series, finishing in seventh and eighth place after the first four races of the women's and men's fields respectively. What makes kitesurfing so fascinating for many, but also not entirely safe, are the high speeds of the top competitors. Jannis Maus says: "We are absolutely the fastest discipline at the Olympic Games. The track cyclists come close with a top speed of 70, 80 kilometres per hour, but nobody else is anywhere near as fast as us."
In contrast, the Ilca 7 is a rather slow Olympic boat class, but one that is extremely competitive at the top and therefore highly exciting in sporting terms. This is where Philipp Buhl wanted to crown his impressive career with a medal. But now a miracle would have to happen for him to reach for precious metal after his sometimes almost desperate rollercoaster ride through the Olympic Ilca 7 class. The 34-year-old tireless Ilca 7 forerunner no longer saw the possibility himself.
Buhl's early start: "Like a stab in the open wound"
After three high double-digit results in his Olympic series, Buhl's early start disqualification on Sunday afternoon was like a stab in his already open wound, as he himself realised. It was barely a second that made Philipp Buhl a disqualified early starter in the battle for the medals and shattered his dream.
The pictures he later took of the start confirmed that the Allgäuer was the early starter according to the race organisers. According to the recordings, however, around two dozen Ilca-7 helmsmen were too early in this seventh race. Only nine were identified and recorded as early starters. They paid a high price for this: this BFD cost 44 points. For Philipp Buhl, it was one strike too many on his already heavily burdened Olympic account.
It's been one big ordeal since yesterday" (Philipp Buhl)
His realisation: "I'm aware that the podium won't happen. It could be a complete coincidence and then it might still work out, but you don't have to believe in it. Accordingly, this week cannot be glossed over. I'm extremely disappointed and sad."
The gala after the low blow
It did little to help the champion, who had finished too late too often this week, that he pulled off a gala in race eight. His wonderful race win and the typical smile that briefly flashed across his face could not undo the series he had run up to that point. The fact that the formidable Buhl run was shown live on TV and gave him the small satisfaction of later being able to show that he had won a race at the 2024 Olympics - just like in Enoshima - was no real consolation for the perfectionist: "The whole week is extremely disappointing and a disaster. I've been thinking about it quite a lot."
Despite everything, the last main round day of the Ilca 7 fleet will be hugely important for Philipp Buhl. He was in 13th place after eight of ten races up until the Medal Race on Sunday evening. After a disappointing 14th place for him at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and a strong 5th place in Enoshima, Philipp Buhl has now set himself a final, but very important task in Marseille: "A top ten result is still possible. It makes a difference whether you end up sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth or 15th to 20th, at least for me." He will see what is still possible for him in the last two main round races on Monday.
If anything works. The fading winds in Marseille could still throw a spanner in the works for Philipp Buhl and others. They have already done that to others today. For example on the course of the 470 mixed teams. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort were among those who had to contend with four to seven knots of wind, contrary to all forecasts. The helmsman from the Württembergischer Yacht-Club and his fore-sailor, who competes for the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club and the Joersfelder Segel-Club, struggled with the light conditions on their third day of sailing.
Light winds, tough tests
The duo finished in 16th and 9th place in the very light midday winds and were in ninth place four races before the medal final of the new Olympic two-handed doubles discipline for mixed doubles. This did not go according to plan for the declared medallists, whose strongest pre-start rivals were Spain's Jordi Xammar/Nora Brugmann and Japan's Keiju Okada/Miho Yoshioka in second and third place.
The Austrians Lara Vadlau and Lukas Mähr had taken the lead after six of ten races up to the final. The helmswoman said: "We just try to stay cool. If you let us off the lines and give us room to breathe, we can do that very well at the moment. We have to maintain this performance and then we'll see what comes out of it." When asked whether her crew's strength comes from their experience on light-winded Austrian inland lakes, Lara Vadlau laughed and said: "The last time we sailed on an inland lake was maybe 20 years ago. We Austrians always try to get to the sea as often as possible."
Simon Diesch explained why this Olympic day turned out to be an arduous business for his and many other 470 mixed crews: "Contrary to all the forecasts, we had super little wind today, more on the lower edge of what you can sail at all. Four to seven knots - and that with a huge swell coming in from outside. So the wave is still there, but the wind is no longer. That was incredibly difficult in terms of conditions. If you can't somehow pull yourself out of the field right from the start, it just becomes difficult."
Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer push ahead
Looking ahead to the second half of the race, including the double medal race, Simon Diesch said: "You have to think carefully about every single step, but you can't overthink situations either. You have to sail with what you have at the moment." Foresailor Anna Markfort agreed and said: "You have to stay in the moment. Analyse what you have and then think about how to implement it."
Julia Büsselberg, who was unable to build on the opening successes of her Olympic premiere on the second day in a row, will also be aiming to do just that. The helmswoman from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club returned to the Olympic harbour of Marseille in 23rd place in the intermediate classification after finishing 23rd and 33rd and before the two remaining Monday races up to the medal final. In her fleet, the Dutchwoman Marit Bouwmeester (1x gold, 1x silver, 1x bronze) and the reigning Danish Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom are fighting the expected duel, in which the Dutchwoman is clearly in the lead shortly before the final after an outstanding series.
"Forward" is also the programme for Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer in their second Olympic start together and the helmsman's third. After their bumpy start to the Olympic Nacra 17 series, the bronze medallists from Enoshima are finding their feet more and more in the Olympic waters of the Bay of Marseille. The game of the foiling catamarans was beautiful and sometimes spectacular to watch.
Collision, broken rudder and work for the technical team
Although the winds for the Nacra 17 fleet remained manageable at around 13 knots for long stretches, swell and diffuse wave movements once again caused rodeo scenes on the Olympic catamaran course. Again, the fun question haunted some heads: "Are you still driving the boat, or is the boat driving you?" Both was the case. The mixed catamaran duo from the Kieler Yacht-Club mastered these conditions perfectly, improving remarkably strongly over the course of the afternoon with 6th, 3rd and 2nd place and were in fourth place on Sunday evening, within touching distance of the top three.
Helmsman Paul Kohlhoff explained afterwards: "We had a bit of making up to do after yesterday. We mostly managed to do that quite well today. We still gave a few things away and dropped a few points, but it could still have been a lot worse. Now we're quite happy that we're closer to the front again than we were yesterday."
The fact that the Kiel team had a small collision before the gate in the second race did not detract from their excellent day at the Olympics. The Argentinians wanted to come in on the inside before the gate. Kohlhoff said: "He passed us from behind, had a wave and then fell off so early that we had his leeward and the gennaker in our faces. He basically sailed into us from upwind." The Argentinians made amends with a penalty curl. The Germans made their technical team work overnight because their helm had been damaged in the collision.
