Trofeo Princesa Sofía: Five GER teams on the final day, one silver medal for sure

Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger are the best German crew at the opening of the new Sailing Grand Slam in Spanish waters ahead of the finals at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía on Saturday. The German-Maltese helmsman from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and his coxswain from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club will be sailing towards their first medal together for the German Sailing Team in the 49er medal race.

Safe second place in the final

Before the final in the men's skiff, the French world champions Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin are hard to beat with 74 points after 15 races. In second place, however, Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger have 92 points on their Trofeo account and no team has to fear them from behind in the double medal race, because: Third-placed Poles Dominik Buksak and Adam Glogowski have already collected 113 points in the fleet of 91 49ers.

"We're already safely in second place, so we can go on the attack. With an 18-point gap to the front, we'll have to see what we can do and how we deal with it. In any case, we want to enjoy it!" said Fabian Rieger. The newly formed German team was hardly inferior to the experienced French front runners in this opening regatta of the Sailing Grand Slam and also impressed the experts with their convincing debut.

Only on the fourth day of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, which was the most powerful day with winds of up to 22 knots, did Schultheis and Rieger score a few more points than usual. Fabian Rieger explained: "There was more wind that day, especially very complicated offshore winds. We hadn't set up the boat optimally, but we made good progress from race to race throughout the day and made progress."

470 Mixed remains the flagship discipline

The strong German 470 mixed teams will also be fighting for the medals on Saturday. Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) were in third place after ten races with 51 points, Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr Deutscher Touring Yacht Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee) were in sixth place with 62 points.

Theoretically, a Trofeo medal is still possible for both GER duos. British leaders Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris were heading for their first major victory with just 29 points and a 19-point lead over Italy's Elena Berta and Giulio Calabro.

Ilca 7 ace Michael Beckett already has it in the bag. The Briton won the Trofeo Princesa Sofía for the fourth time in a row before the medal race. The 30-year-old Welshman bettered the previous record of three wins by his compatriot Paul Goodison (2008 Olympic champion).

Beckett grins, Schweckendiek shines

"This fourth win here is actually much, much more important to me than I said at the start of the week," Beckett admitted with a smile after his latest success. Ole Schweckendiek (Kieler Yacht-Club), who only turned 20 in February, finished the series in the Bay of Palm as the best German Ilca-7 helmsman. In the impressive fleet of 176 boats, the 2023 U19 World Champion finished 21st in the senior field.

The German 49erFX teams, on the other hand, lost out on a better starting position for the final in the women's skiff on the final day. In the end, after 14 races, only one crew from the German Sailing Team - Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer in eighth place - made it into the top ten final on Saturday. Olympic sixth-placed Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Mühlenberger Segel-Club) narrowly missed out on the medal race in eleventh place after the main round.

An eleventh place like that is always annoying and not what we expected before the regatta." Marla Bergmann

Helmswoman Marla Bergmann described the start of the season as follows: "It was a regatta with lots of ups and downs and the conditions were also really challenging, different every day. It was a good event to learn a lot." According to her crew, it was the first time since the Olympic Games that everyone was back on the course.

Both Steinlein twins in action on the final day

"There are a lot of new teams, so the racing is a bit different to what we knew before the games. We also had to find our feet first. It was the first regatta after a really long break. Accordingly, we can be satisfied with the moments we had," said Hanna Wille. Maru Scheel and Freya Feilcke (Kieler Yacht-Club), who had previously finished in the top ten, had also dropped back to 13th place in the 49erFX fleet after a less fortunate final day.

However, Theresa Steinlein, another Olympic sixth-placer, reached the final day with aplomb. She will join her twin sister, 49erFX helmswoman Sophie Steinlein, who is just one minute older, on Saturday. The iQFOiL windsurfer "Resi" Steinlein (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) will enter the final series of her discipline in fourth place. Click here for the results of all ten Olympic disciplines at the Sailing Grand Slam in the Balearic Islands.

Review! The highlights of day four (Thursday) of the first Sailing Grand Slam regatta of the year show the action of the Olympic sailors on the most pressurised day of the series with winds of up to 22 knots. It was the day on which the normally outstanding 49er sailors Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger lost a few feathers compared to the leading Frenchmen: