Olympics: World Championship festival ahead - GER aces with medal chances

First comes the final of the Formula kiters in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, then the skiff world championships in the French bay of Quiberon: the weekend brings high tension from the perspective of the best of the German Sailing Team. Over the past week, they have put themselves in a strong position with top performances. Now the final spurt is underway.

The world championship summit of the Olympic Formula kiters

The first World Championship medals this weekend will be awarded on Saturday in Viana do Castelo. On Friday afternoon, Jannis Maus was in a good attacking position in seventh place after eleven qualifying races and eight main round races. Kite star Maximilian Maeder (Singapore) was able to maintain the lead ahead of the Swiss Gian Strangiotti and the Italian Ricardo Pianosi. The Austrian Olympic champion Valentin Bontus was fifth after 19 runs. Click here for the intermediate world championship results of the Olympic Formula kiters.

The Formula kite medal series will be broadcast live on Saturday. broadcast on the YouTube channel "kiteclasses" here. The event is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. local time, i.e. 3 p.m. German time. Olympic fifth-placed Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters e.V.) fought for his chance of a medal this weekend with consistently top-class performances. "I was able to show over the entire series that I belong up there at the front," said the 29-year-old from Oldenburg, summarising his progress.

The other realisation of the doctoral student in wind energy research before Saturday's final was this: "Tomorrow, everything is open at the top. There's still a lot of excitement and I'm really up for it." The quarter-finals will be contested by the kiters in places five to ten. The top two will progress. In the semi-finals, they meet the kiters ranked third and fourth after the main round. Once again, the top two progress to the final, where they meet the two frontrunners from the main round.

Like a "mini-Tarifa": the discovery of Viana do Castelo

The conditions in the kiteboarding world championship area could be as good as they were this Friday: 15 to 22 knots of wind, good pressure, Atlantic swell. "I like the long rollers," says Jannis Maus, who discovered a new spot in Viana do Castelo with the entire Formula Kite world elite that only the starters from Portugal knew about before the World Championships. "The spot is really beautiful, super nice in terms of wind. The sun is shining right now and there are lots of freeride kiters out there. It's a bit like Tarifa, only a bit smaller, not as hyped," says Jannis Maus.

Wind energy researcher Maus sees the fact that Enercon, a manufacturer and service provider for wind turbines, operates in Viana do Castelo as a positive sign and said with a smile. "This is perhaps a good World Cup omen for me. It suits me perfectly. So: wind-wise." Once the decisions have been made in Portgual on Saturday, all eyes interested in the Olympics will turn to Quiberon, where the World Championship medals in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 will be awarded on Sunday.

In the final spurt, the German skiff men and women have put themselves in a strong starting position two days before the medal races at the World Championships in France. Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) achieved their first victory of the day on Friday. The duo moved up to third place. "The conditions have been very challenging so far, but also super cool to sail in," said helmsman Schultheis.

GER teams put double the pressure on in the 49er

It was important to the only 21-year-old Berliner, who grew up in Malta and has been competing for the German Sailing Team and the North German Regatta Association since 2025, "that we managed the risks well and kept the points low in the preliminary round". This performance Schultheis/Rieger added to her tally on day one of the main round with her race win, even though a 25th place finish intervened - currently the scratch result.

The good news from the national team's perspective: Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club), who finished eleventh at the Olympics, continued to improve towards the end of the World Championships, also moving up to fourth place with a race win two days before the final. Andreas Spranger said: "The last two days of qualifying were a real breeze!" On the first day of the World Championship, three races were held in nine to 13 knots. The races on Wednesday and Thursday had taken place in more than 20 knots - a challenge for the skiff sailors, but one that many also enjoyed.

With air temperatures of 12, 13 degrees, the athletes had to withstand fresh conditions at the same time. "We were pretty fast and had solid speed. That always helps. We got off to a good start and didn't have to hide with our strong wind handling. That helped. Nevertheless, we made a few careless mistakes here and there and lost a few places. In the second half, it's now all about sailing as cleanly and accurately as possible until the final, and not dropping any points, because that will be penalised twice as hard in the gold fleet."

49erFX World Championship: Olympic fifth-placed Bergmann/Wille attack

The first of the two Gold Fleet days with three races each has been contested. Click here for the intermediate results of the 49ers. The second Goldfleet day follows on Saturday. The final medal races will then take place on Sunday. The same applies to the 49erFX women. Here too, the GER sailors are in a promising position, as the FX interim ranking shows. But Anna Barth and Emma Kohlhoff (Kieler Yacht-Club) - on Thursday still the best German FX crew in the world championship area of Quiberon - had to give up a few more feathers on Friday, slipping back to twelfth place.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the 49erFX helmswoman and SailGP strategist Anna Barth and her foresailor Emma Kohlhoff feel very comfortable in the same boat: "We're pretty 'locked-in', we just have fun racing here together. I would definitely say that the SailGP also makes me strong in FX. Of course, it was brilliant that we had such a good event in Bermuda before the World Championship. So I arrived in Quiberon full of euphoria. Emma did the measurement - she's my hero."

Things went upwards on the penultimate day of the World Cup for the Olympic sixth-placed Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Mühlenberger Segel-Club) who worked their way up to fifth place in the gold fleet after a 25th place finish with fifth and fourth places. "We had pretty veritable conditions here in the World Championship area, but we were able to adjust to them quickly. That helped a lot," said helmswoman Marla Bergmann, summarising the interim results.

The world championship final of the skiff sailors takes place on 17 May

Maru Scheel and Freya Feilcke (Kieler Yacht-Club) will attack from eighth position on the second gold fleet day on Saturday. The Olympic squad sailors Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Segelclub Inning am Ammersee) will not want to leave it at 19th place. On Saturday evening, it will be clear which German boats have reached the World Championship medal finals on 17 May. And: from which positions they can reach for world championship medals and how strongly.

REPLAY! The Gold Fleet races of the World Championship for 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 from 15 May in the replay: