Olympics: Skiff gold for Spain and Holland, Bergmann/Wille win even without a medal

The first six medals have been awarded at the sailing regatta of the XXXIII Olympic Games. Almost all of them were won by the pre-start favourites. In the men's 49er, the Spanish SailGP winners Diego Botin and Florian Trittel withstood the enormous pressure of expectation. The former training partners of two-time bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel had entered the Marseille medal arena like matadors on Friday. They won the final and deservedly crowned themselves Olympic champions.

The first gold for Spain comes from the sea" ("El País")

They celebrated their success with their impressive travelling fan club, who had already made a name for themselves over the days with their passionate support. Diego Botin said after the triumph: "It's a dream come true for us. After so many years of work, it couldn't get any better here with our families travelling with us." Flo Trittel explained: "The key to victory was to stay focussed over the two days with the many attempts to get the medal race over the line. We knew what we wanted: to sail the best medal race possible to win this gold medal."

Olympic decision: Spanish jubilation, Irish lamentation

49er silver went to the overjoyed New Zealanders Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie. As Olympic silver medallists, they managed to fill the very large shoes of their prominent predecessors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. The two America's Cup defenders won gold in Rio in 2016 and silver in Enoshima in 2021. McHardie said: "What a feeling! Words can't describe it. To win a silver medal for New Zealand, it's just incredible."

It didn't go according to plan today. That's part of our sport. Someone has to finish fourth" (Sean Waddilove)

The Americans Ian Barrows and Hans Henken secured 49er bronze. They snatched the third medal from Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, who had started the medal race in second place. The Irish duo rectified a false start, which close observers were later certain was not a false start at all. The unlucky duo of the day only finished ninth in the final and slipped back to fourth place.

The 49er FX women had their showdown before the skiff men. Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from Mühlenberger Segel-Club had a small chance of a medal after the main round in fifth place - that alone was a huge success. The school friends would have loved to have made the most of it. But on another hot and particularly humid day, the more experienced competitors were more assertive. The girls from Hamburg had set their sights high for their last appearance at their rousing Olympic premiere. They would have loved to have won the final, but neither the mighty competition nor their own timing played along under the eyes of the international television cameras.

Olympic pride even without a medal

"We were a bit late at the start and the Swedes were the fastest of us upwind. We had to tack out once. But we wanted to go over the left side, so we turned back again," said helmswoman Marla Bergmann, explaining the start scenario, which made the planned attack towards the medals too difficult as the race progressed.

The high-flyers of the national sailing team did not dwell on their missed medal opportunity for long after their difficult and beautiful Olympic premiere in the scorching heat. "We're still proud of ourselves," said Hanna Wille. "Congratulations, you're rockets!" congratulated the two German skiff sailors, and not just teammate and kiter Leonie Meyer, who will be competing in the Olympic regatta on 4 August.

After a strange finish in the medal final, the 49er FX Olympic champions were the favourites Odile Van Aanholt and Annette Duetz from the Netherlands. For a short time, it looked as if the Swedes had missed a gate. Then came the redemptive message on the water: you have won gold.

Bronze for France's mum team

Silver went to the Swedes Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler with a final that they sailed like they were unleashed and won with aplomb. Many current and former German skiff greats were also invited to the party in the evening at the Sweden House, who did not want to miss out on their visit to the Olympics in Marseille. They included two-time Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Plößel, Rebecca Netzler's partner Justus Schmidt, 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Jurczok and many more who celebrated with the skiff family in the Mediterranean.

That was our last Olympic Games. I had never won a medal before. I thought about that every day. All our families were here. They were incredible. We cried with emotion every day" (Sarah Steyaert)

Bronze went to the hugely popular "mum team" in France: 37-year-old Sarah Steyaert and 39-year-old Charline Picon. The foresailor had already celebrated an Olympic victory in RS:X windsurfing in 2016 before retraining as a 49er FX ace for the home games. The French team started the final as the top team after the main round. But Steyaert/Picon were unable to hold on to the gold that thousands of French Olympic fans had hoped for. They cheered anyway, because they got the medal that Sarah Steyaert was still missing.

Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille missed out on the Olympic podium on their first attempt and shed a few tears as a result. However, these were also due to the release of the enormous tension and the waves of emotion that the Olympians and fans sent through the beach arena right next to the Olympic harbour in Marseille on this hot Friday.

Bergmann/Wille are the future

The future belongs to Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille as well as other upcoming FX crews in the German Sailing Team. Hanna Wille said: "Many of the very experienced international crews in our fleet are retiring after these Olympic Games or taking a two-year break. Of course, that makes us look forward to the future. We know that, okay, we'll be at the forefront of the next generation."

Marla Bergmann confirmed the continuation of the Olympic 49er FX career of her crew, who won many hearts in Marseille with their refreshing and infectious joy of high-calibre sailing: "Definitely! To experience these moments here now after the final, how the Dutch, Swedish and French women come ashore, how they are celebrated and how they know that they have won medals - I want that too. Of course, the fire is now even more awakened to want to stand on this Olympic podium."

While the best skiff sailors have already said goodbye to the Olympics with their brilliant final show, for others, the assault on the summit has only just begun. On day six of the Olympic regatta, more German sailors were challenged. Simon Diesch (Württembergischer Yacht-Club) and Anna Markfort (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Joersfelder Segel-Club) got off to a strong start in the Olympic premiere of the 470 mixed fleet.

Diesch/Markfort in the top three at the start

The duo are in third place after the first two races and eighth and fourth place. They are in expected company, as the Japanese Kaija Okada/Miho Yoshioka, who are co-favourites with Diesch/Markfort, and the Spaniards Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman lead the small fleet of 19 470 dinghies in that order. The mixed crews were given a gift right at the start of the Olympics that other Olympians would have wished for on many days: they were allowed to sail around ten knots on the Calanques outer course in beautiful conditions.

Simon Diesch's first interim assessment in the evening in the Olympic harbour of Marseille: "We had a solid start. Sailing on the outside lanes is just so much more fun than inside. It wasn't originally planned that we would sail there. We were then very happy about it. We had two races in absolutely fair conditions."

In the largest Olympic field of Ilca-7 sailors, Philipp Buhl (Segelclub Alpsee-Immenstadt/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) saw the field once from the front and once from behind today. After a strong third place in the third race, the Ilca-7 helmsman had initially moved up to third place in the classification. An unsuccessful start in race four and less fortune on the course saw the 2020 world champion finish in 28th place after a good race to catch up.

Windsurfing quarter-finals with Resi Steinlein on Saturday

This puts Philipp Buhl in 15th place after two days: "A miscalculated start like today obviously hurts me a bit, but the field is still quite close together in the points. I'm looking ahead and will be happy if we have a bit more wind tomorrow. Tomorrow might be the day when you can gradually make up a few points," said Philipp Buhl.

Julia Büsselberg showed valuable consistency today. The Ilca-6 helmswoman from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club was in ninth place after three races in the largest women's field of 43 boats at the Olympic regatta. She proved her class with 10th, 14th and 10th places, and even on Friday in light winds of between five and eight knots she didn't miss a beat in two races on the second outer course Frioul. "We sailed two and a half races today, then the wind collapsed and started shifting wildly back and forth," reported the 24-year-old maths student in the late afternoon. Her short summary after three races: "I'm still satisfied."

The iQFoil windsurfing finals that were cancelled on Friday have been rescheduled for Saturday (3 August). The women's knockout quarter-final with Theresa Steinlein (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) is scheduled to start at 12.13 pm.

Marvellous live commentary on the Olympic victory by Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, who wrote for the Spanish daily newspaper "El País" can be heard and seen in pictures. Only rights holders are authorised to show moving images from the Olympic arenas: