Trofeo Princesa Sofía: Narrow points gap and a protest - the 470 thriller is coming to a head

Calm winds, tough decisions: The Trofeo Princesa Sofía got down to business on the final day. While some classes once again struggled in very light conditions, others had to wait until late afternoon for their starts. The fifth day of the Trofeo brought early victory for two top international players: Briton Michael Beckett in the Ilca 7 can no longer be caught after a strong performance in the final. Nor can Philipp Buhl, who completed a convincing series in the face of a predominantly light wind week and will start the medal race on Saturday at 11 a.m. as second in the largest Olympic fleet of 193 Ilca dinghies.

Buhl is looking forward to the match race final

With an eight-point lead over his well-known French sparring partner Jean-Baptiste Bernaz, Buhl is looking forward to a possible match race and said: "I'm looking forward to getting this opportunity in a final." The fact that the 34-year-old 2020 world champion cleared all the hurdles on the way to his third Olympic start this week has already made him switch gears in his head. One key question that will occupy him intensively as he heads for Marseille 2024 is this: How can he catch up with Michael Beckett and Olympic champion Matt Wearn, who have surged ahead over the past year and a half.

Michael Beckett also got the better of Buhl this week. Matt Wearn was able to beat Buhl in conditions that were very demanding for him. The Australian can no longer catch up with the German in the medal final. Team mate Nik Aaron Willim, who lost out to Buhl in the national Olympic elimination, had strong words for the Ilca 7 number one in the German Sailing Team. Nik Aaron Willim, who narrowly missed out on the medal race in eleventh place, said to Philipp Buhl on Friday evening at the NRV Olympic Team's traditional Mallorca evening with its athletes and supporters: "Congratulations on your Olympic ticket! You've earned it. I'm a bit sad, but also proud of where I've got to."

Willim thanks the club and association for their support

Nik Willim also thanked his club and the DSV and said that he constantly had the feeling of "strong support" from all directions. The good team spirit is another reason "why I want to continue for another four years". Willim's conviction: "I believe I can achieve even more."

The Italian dominators Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won the Nacra 17 one day before the final of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía. The Azzurri would like to add a second Olympic victory to their Olympic gold from Enoshima in the summer before Marseille. Ruggero Tita will then switch straight back to the Italian America's Cup team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, where he will be one of the two young helmsmen who will give the established Francesco Bruni and Jimmy Spithill a run for their money on board the "Red Moon" and fight for their own chance at the helm.

Germany's undisputed Nacra 17 top crew, on the other hand, had to put up with bitter setbacks in the very light winds of the final days of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía after leading for several days. They finished tenth in the medal race in their class, which opens the final day of the Spanish classic on Saturday at 10am. The Olympic bronze medallists are sailing towards their second Olympic participation together after their acclaimed bronze medal in Enoshima 2021.

Olympic Games without a German 49er crew for the first time?

Berlin's Julia Büsselberg has reached the medal race in sixth place in the Ilca 6. With a nine-point deficit to third place, the helmswoman from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club can work her way up even further on Saturday from 10.15 am. Then it will be decided what her performance will be worth in the battle for an Olympic ticket.

In contrast, there was sadness and disappointment in the camp of the German 49er sailors on Friday. Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger had already worked their way into the top five in the last race of the Gold Fleet before dropping back to 23rd place. With 13th place in the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, the crew from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club was also unable to clear the hurdles on course for the 2024 Olympics in the third and final elimination. After two bronze medals by Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel in 2016 and 2021, this could be the first Olympic Games without German 49er participation since the class premiere in Sydney in 2000.

At the same time, the skiff sailors kept their Olympic chances alive. Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from Mühlenberger Segel-Club won the national elimination and cleared all the individual Olympic hurdles. However, the German 49erFX sailors are still missing the national starting place for the Olympics, which they want to fight for with the other women's crews from the German Sailing Team at the Last Chance Regatta in Hyères in April.

MSC crew with one hand on the Olympic ticket

22-year-old Marla Bergmann and her 23-year-old foresailor Hanna Wille have known each other since their families spent a sailing holiday together in 2011. 13 years later, they now have the chance to realise their dream of competing in the Olympics. They finished fifth in the medal final in Spain. With a dream run in the final from 11.30 a.m., they could still move up to third place, but the gaps to the rear are also narrow and need to be defended.

The new Olympic kiters and iQFoil windsurfers are also fighting for their Olympic tickets in the bay of Palma. Rising star Theresa Marie Steinlein has already fulfilled all the DOSB criteria for nomination on the iQFoil board and has also secured the essential national starting place. Team-mate Sebastian Kördel, on the other hand, experienced a black Friday, plummeting from ninth place to 18th with an unfortunate early start and almost a dozen other fellow sufferers on the final day.

The 2022 World Champion and 2023 Vice World Champion will now have to watch the final of his third and final elimination regatta as a spectator and hope that New Zealander Josh Armit does not finish in the top three in the final standings of all three elimination regattas in order to achieve his own top ten national ranking, which is essential for the 2024 Olympics. The medal race for the iQFoil best will begin after the women's final with Theresa Steinlein (from 10.15am) at 11am off Can Pastilla.

Germany's kiters on course for the 2024 Olympics

While Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) defended her third place in the Trofeo classification for the female kiters despite a stomach bug and has thus secured herself a strong starting position for the final elimination regatta on the Marseille course at the Formula Kite World Championships in May, Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters e.V.) and Flo Gruber (NRV) are battling it out for the Olympic ticket in the men's kitesurfing competition. Jannis Maus led the elimination duel after the first regatta and was also in sixth place ahead of Gruber (10th) on the evening before the final in Spain. The kiters' World Championship off Hyères will be decided in May.

The elimination thriller in the 470 mixed remains thrilling. The disappointment was particularly great for the team of 2022 World Champions Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth on Friday evening. The duo from the North German Regatta Association and the Bavarian Yacht Club missed out on a place in the medal race by just one point. Wanser/Autenrieth (65 points) were only nine points behind third-placed Malte and Anastasiya Winkel - that's how close the competitive 470 mixed fleet was after five days of sailing.

For Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club), missing the cut means a real setback on course for Marseille. With now 18 points on their elimination account after two of three regattas, the North German-Bavarian duo will find it very difficult to close the gap on the national competition, which will continue to swell with the final results on Saturday.

The 470 mixed thriller rages on

Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) had scored 17 points in part 1 of the elimination alone with fourth place at the World Championships. Malte and Anastasiya Winkel had collected 9 points at the World Championships. In the Trofeo medal final on Saturday from 11.45 a.m., the question from a German perspective will be whether Diesch/Markfort can extend their lead even further. Or whether the sailing couple Winkel can reduce the gap to their two rivals from the German Sailing Team with a possible podium finish.

The fact that an Italian protest was lodged against the Winkel team on Friday evening regarding a rounding of the barrel caused a few hours of unrest. However, the protest was rejected. How the two top German teams and Theresa Löffler/Christopher Hoerr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee), who also qualified for the final in fifth place, intend to organise the medal race was naturally left open on Friday evening. But Anna Markfort was certain: "It will be very exciting. And of course we want to be on the podium."

A podium finish is rewarded with particularly high scores at the DSV internal qualifying regattas. At the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, third place, which is possible for all three German 470 mixed crews, would be worth 20 points. Fourth place would be worth 17 points, fifth place 16 points and so on. Because Winkel/Winkel, Diesch/Markfort and Löffler/Hoerr are each only one point apart in third to fifth place as the "German bank" before the Trofeo medal race, the outcome of this 470 mixed thriller is unpredictable. However, who will end up with the one ticket to Marseille will only be decided in part 3 of the elimination at the European Championships in Cannes in May.

Click here for the results and intermediate standings before the medal races of the 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar.

The highlights from the final day of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía: