Olympics: Kiters strong, but is the Marseille lull ruining the GER sailors' chances of a medal?
Tatjana Pokorny
· 05.08.2024
"Atypical" was a frequently used word to describe the extreme light wind conditions on this ninth day in Marseille's Olympic Bay. British 470 mixed helmswoman Vita Heathcote said it with a laugh. She and her cox Chris Grube were in eleventh place on the morning of the fourth day of the regatta and had just as little chance of making any progress towards the medal race in the top ten as Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort. The German duo would have liked to have fought their way further towards the medals on Monday.
In the evening, however, all the 470 mixed duos were still in the same places, as the two races in their fleet had been swallowed up by the doldrums, as had the last two main round races for the Ilca 7 men. The scenario that had already been feared in view of the forecasts hit Philipp Buhl hard once again. The Allgäu native would have given a lot for the chance to fight for two more races to qualify for the medal final on Tuesday. He didn't get it and had to end his third Olympic appearance after 14th place in Rio de Janeiro and fifth place in Enoshima in 13th place "very disappointed".
Buhl and Bernaz miss the Olympic final
The perfectionist in Buhl briefly reminded us, despite his sadness about his performance, that in view of the difficult weather conditions "we could have organised three races on the previous sailable days". After all, the advertised goal was to complete ten races before the medal race. As Buhl and many national and international sailors had already anticipated, the Ilca men ended up with eight races. That was two too few for Philipp Buhl and his long-time sparring partner Jean-Baptiste Bernaz on this last Olympic sailing day.
The Frenchman's dream of a medal at the Olympics, for which he had worked so hard in his fifth attempt and was in the spotlight of his compatriots like never before, also came to nothing. Like Philipp Buhl, Jean-Baptiste Bernaz is also not in the final. He told the daily newspaper "Le Télegramme" at the sad end of his last Olympic participation: "It's hard because I wanted to say goodbye to everyone because I won't be racing lasers again any time soon."
Of the big three from the German-French-Norwegian training group, only the Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard has made it into the top ten of the hotly contested Ilca 7 fleet after eight races in fifth place. They will be fighting for the medals on Tuesday. Before the double scored final, Tomasgaard is 17 points away from the bronze medal he won for the first time in Enoshima three years ago.
It's mentally tough for our group" (Hermann Tomasgaard)
Just a few weeks ago, the trio of Buhl, Bernaz and Tomasgaard finished on the podium together at the last joint regatta test during Kieler Woche with plenty of Olympic anticipation. Hermann Tomasgaard said on Monday afternoon in Marseille: "It's pretty sad that all three of us didn't make it to the final. Even for me it was only a reasonably good regatta. I'm not where I wanted to be." Tomasgaard sees last Saturday - day two of the Ilca 7 series - as crucial, when they all got high double-digit results in the same race. "We were all behind together. We lacked that little bit to pull ourselves out of it."
"We all struggled with the bay. It was a bit atypical this week. There wasn't the left-hand advantage that we expected. But we certainly trained enough here. To be honest, I don't know exactly what it was. We lacked a bit of the sharpness to sail at the front and make our own decisions." Top favourite Matt Wearn had that sharpness. The Australian reigning world champion and Olympic gold medallist leads the field ahead of the final with just 38 points. Only the Cypriot endurance runner Pavlos Kontides could still challenge him for gold, 14 points behind in the double scoring final.
The 34-year-old Kontides, on the other hand, says that he is not in an ideal position in second place ahead of the final. "Matt will have his eye on me because I'm the only one who can still jeopardise him. At the same time, there are people behind me who are also fighting for medals." However, it was even more important for Kontides, who was the first Cypriot athlete to win an Olympic medal for his country with his Laser silver medal in 2012, to think about his wife and their two-year-old daughter the day before the decision. "They are wonderful. My wife does all the work and I have so much waiting time here..."
Nacra experts improve throughout the day
However, sailing did take place on this tough and, for many, disappointing day. The small and fine Nacra 17 field laboured through three races. However, foresailor Alica Stuhlemmer had to laugh at the wind figures of around seven knots on the TV broadcast: "It was four and a half, five knots in the first two races. That's not enough for foiling." The lowest small wind window, which has already been reduced to a minimum by her crew, is the well-known Achilles heel of the German catamaran experts, who shone with bronze in Enoshima three years ago. The fact that they can shake off these problems from seven knots upwards was evident from their improved performance in the last race of the day, when they were back in the top group in fifth place.
If tomorrow is like today, it will be a damn difficult day. But as soon as it's seven or eight knots, we'll be right up there at the front again" (Alica Stuhlemmer)
Before that, however, Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer had picked up a few points with 13 and 8. They were in sixth place before the last three scheduled main round races on Monday evening. They were 21 points behind third place, which was occupied by New Zealanders Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson on 28 points, level on points with second-placed Argentinian Santi Lange's successors Mateo Majdalani/Eugenia Bosco. The leaders in the final sprint to the final are the Italian dominators, Olympic and world champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti after six daily victories in nine races with only 14 points on their Olympic account.
Kiter Meyer and Maus move forward
The Nacra 17 final and the 470 final are scheduled for 7 August. It was uncertain on the evening in Marseille whether main round races could still be contested on Tuesday. What was certain, however, was that the German kiters had turned this day, which had come to such an arduous end, into a joyous celebration with two lightning-fast races.
Day nine of the Olympic Regatta was a good day for Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) and Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters). They had to wait a long time after their only races of the day until their upcoming races in the historic first Olympic series, which had only just begun on Sunday, were postponed to the following day. However, both top players from the German Sailing Team made almost perfect use of their only racing opportunity of the day.
Jannis Maus moved up to fourth place in the intermediate classification with another second place. The German Formula kiter even managed to leave world champion and top favourite Max Maeder from Singapore behind him. Jannis Maus commented on the great show for the fans: "It was harder out there today in the light winds than it looked from the outside. You definitely have to keep your eyes open and ride smart. I was able to move up from fourth to second on the last downwind and maintain that position. But Max and I pumped our guts out in the light winds on the way to the windward mark."
Leonie Meyer also drew a positive balance after two days of the Olympic kitesurfing premiere. After a total of 4 out of 15 scheduled races, the 31-year-old from Kiel was in fifth place behind the co-favourites Eleanor Aldridge (Great Britain), Daniela Moroz (USA), Elena Langwiler (Switzerland) and Lauriane Nolot (France). Leonie Meyer said: "I had already caught Olympic fever beforehand because others had started before us. Now we're in the game too. That's cool! We waited a long time today. Then there was a bit of wind and we had a good race."
Marit Bouwmeester is Olympia's new sailing queen
5 August will also be remembered for the fact that Olympic sailing has a new queen. Holland's Ilca 6 dominator Marit Bouwmeester won the Olympic series with 30 points after nine races even before the medal final. With her second gold medal after 2016, silver in 2012 and bronze in 2021, the 36-year-old mother of a two-year-old daughter is now the most successful female sailor in Olympic history. She ousted former British 470 sailor and current SailGP strategist Hannah Mills (2x gold, 1x silver) from the throne and took her acclaimed seat.
What a tough day! We were so close to the island. A crazy day" (Marit Bouwmeester)
After many attempts, the women's Ilca-6 fleet had a tough race on Monday. While dozens of Dutch journalists in the press centre in Marseille cheered Bouwmeester's every move, the sailor calmly completed her mission in 20th place. She had not previously achieved a high strike result and could no longer be caught after the cancellation of race ten. The cancellation also marked the end of Julia Büsselberg's Olympic premiere.
Olympic thoughts from Julia Büsselberg
The 24-year-old Ilca 6 helmswoman had set her sights much higher than 25th place and looked back: "I started consistently. Everyone was happy with that (Red.: with the ranks 10, 14, 10). I haven't even done it properly because I've already dropped points. The day before yesterday was just difficult (Red.: with the ranks 27, 24, 27). Also difficult to digest. The last two days were better again, but I couldn't get into the rhythm that the event tried to force into me."
Julia Büsselberg, who was in the leading group in one of the cancelled race attempts on Monday, is also taking positive thoughts from her Olympic outing: "I was here at the Olympics. It was a success for as long as it lasted. I wasn't able to show what I can do in the results. But there were moments when I showed that I was there. I can take that with me, even if nobody else can see it."
