Olympics: Sailing medals swallowed up by the doldrums - can the kiters save the day?
Tatjana Pokorny
· 06.08.2024
For Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort, the tenth day of the Olympic regatta in the Bay of Marseille was probably the toughest of their sailing careers. They wanted to fight their way up from ninth place in the last three scheduled main round races to see how close they could get to the medals. Instead, they experienced a black Tuesday that could hardly have been worse.
Hardly anything went according to plan in the first race. The GER-470 only crossed the finish line in 19th place in the small field of 20 dinghies. It was clear that a dream run was needed in race 8 in order to qualify for the medal race and catapult themselves into the best possible attack position. In fact, they succeeded at first. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort took the lead with a "boat speed" of just over two knots in less than five knots of wind and a wave against them and held on to it for a long time.
What the observers on the live trackers couldn't see at first were two very harsh penalties for the German crew. Diesch/Markfort cleared up the first one with a penalty circle - and kept on fighting. They remained in the leading group until the final finishing section, when they saw another flag against them. According to the rules, this could no longer be rectified with a penalty circle. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort had to retire. This explained their lurching course in the obviously wrong direction, which initially confused the tracker observers.
Two flags seal the 470 Mixed's exit
"You get flags for pumping, even if we can't understand how we should have pumped," Simon Diesch later commented on the final knockout blow for his team in the battle for a place in the medal race. The GER team returned to the Olympic port of Marseille deeply saddened and disappointed after the ninth and last possible race was cancelled without sufficient wind. The historic first Olympic 470 mixed final will take place without German participation.
Simon Diesch said in a brief initial analysis: "It wasn't the wind, it wasn't the conditions. In the end, the best always wins. It's down to us, our approach to bringing our skills to the water." "We didn't find them in time," said Anna Markfort, whose tears could not wash away the sorrow over the missed opportunities. "At the end of the day, we're all problem solvers here. And we didn't get enough problems solved," said the 31-year-old teacher, summarising the Olympic low blow for her team.
The second German mixed crew also struggled in the only wind window in which they were not quite on a par with the leaders. For the second day in a row, only three to six knots of wind were served up for the Nacra 17 fleet. The beautiful foiling was cancelled for long stretches. Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer (Kieler Yacht-Club) are the crew with the biggest helmsman in the Olympic concert of Nacra aces. They are one of the heavier teams in the Olympic catamaran fleet, even though they had shed a few kilos on the Marseille course.
The ranking is no surprise to me. That's why I can live with it" (Paul Kohlhoff)
When Olympia hits the small Achilles heel
Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer were able to wrest 14th, 17th and 10th place from the once again extreme light wind challenge - not what they are capable of from seven or eight knots. The duo had done a lot on the Olympia course to minimise the well-known performance gap in the lowest wind window. However, they were never able to close it completely and always communicated this openly. At the Olympics, the winds were not on their side: of the twelve Nacra 17 races sailed, just over half will have taken place in the lowest wind window, including the medal races. Too much for the Kiel team.
For this area - as we have now experienced in real life here this week - we should have trained the extremes even more" (Paul Kohlhoff)
The Kieler, who was highly decorated with Olympic bronze three years ago with his foresailor Alica Stuhlemmer, also took a self-critical look back at his team's preparations for the Olympics and said: "In hindsight, I think we prepared badly for this area. To be honest, we never had as little wind as we did when we were here. The other point is that you often only go out when there is wind. On a day like today, we probably wouldn't have gone out until there were seven or eight knots for a few minutes."
The flat conditions made her game and the renewed medal attack too difficult. And not only that: "The capsize in the first race was totally stupid. And in the second race we weren't really in it yet," said Kohlhoff looking back on the evening before the medal final. Reflecting, he named other factors that had added up to a hurdle that was too high on the medal course. "I believe that we could have operated close to the medals if the conditions had suited us a little better," he said, summarising his many thoughts in a conciliatory manner.
In eighth place overall after twelve races, the Olympic bronze medallists from Enoshima make it into the top ten final on Wednesday. But the medal is no longer up for grabs. But an improvement to sixth place is still possible. However, the wind forecast for Wednesday - see above - is so weak that sailors, hosts and fans are already worried about the next races. And with them the TV broadcasters, who are also having a hard time these days with the sport of sailing, whose images are otherwise so well received.
Can the kiters save the sailing balance sheet?
On the third day of their Olympic premiere in Marseille, the German kiters again provided the good news. They were not fazed by the light wind or the long waiting times. Leonie Meyer and Jannis Maus responded strongly to the challenges in their spectacular new Olympic discipline: Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) came sixth in the only race of the day in the women's event and remains on a promising course for the final in fifth place.
The 31-year-old reported: "I made a big mistake on the start cross today and then had to catch up again. But it was all good, I'm happy. I think the coaches want me to attack a bit more, to be more confident. I'll try to put that into practice tomorrow. Because now it's definitely about getting the best possible places for the medal race."
Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters) was also able to look back on another good day of racing in the complicated light wind conditions. The 28-year-old from Oldenburg took second place after an eighth and said: "Everything is so close together for us. I'm currently sixth with room to the back and a lot of potential for the front."
Meyer and Maus in attacking mood
The obviously competitive Jannis Maus already had his plan ready for the following day in the battle for the best positions for the final series: "I hope we go out at all. The forecast looks rather difficult. But if we do go out, then I'll be on the attack. I've delivered such a consistent series. For me, the only way is up."
On Wednesday, the medal races for Ilca 6 (start at 12.13pm) and Ilca 7 (start at 1.13pm), which were cancelled on Tuesday in a tough game of patience, will take place first. Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer will then be challenged in the Nacra 17 medal final from 14:43. The action will then continue at 15:43 with the 470 mixed final, in which the Austrians Lara Vadlau and Lukas Mähr will start as front runners.
