On this fourth day of racing at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, two well-known successful German teams were the winners and losers: Philipp Buhl in the Ilca 7 and Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer in the Nacra 17. Philipp Buhl came through so well in the light, shifty winds, which he does not particularly like, with 13th and 3rd place, that he moved up to second place.
Buhl battles with Beckett and Wearn
Britain's Michael Beckett continues to lead the fiercely contested largest Olympic field of Ilca 7 sailors, although he suffered an early start on Thursday after two general recalls. Lurking behind Buhl is Olympic champion Matt Wearn, on whom Buhl has now opened up a 14-point lead. The Olympic soloists still have two races to go before the medal final.
Philipp Buhl described the challenges of the day as follows: "The winds were light and quite shifty, the wind force pulsating, sometimes more, sometimes less, not rhythmic, difficult to predict. That's why I'm very happy with my results." The 34-year-old continued: "On a day like today, there is about 30 to 40 per cent unpredictability. On normal days, it's more like ten per cent. If you then manage to be alert, you can influence the other 60 to 70 per cent." The helmsman, who competes for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and his local sailing club Alpsee-Immenstadt, managed to do just that on this day.
The performance of his ten years younger team-mate Niko Naujock from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club is also worth mentioning. The Berliner was in eighth place in the world-class field after eight races and has already finished in the top three three times. Nik Aaron Willim was twelfth before the last two Gold Fleet races.
Calm winds stop Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer
Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer had a very different experience to Philipp Buhl on Thursday in the bay of Palma, which presented itself in a glittering turquoise summer mood, but had too little wind for the crew from the Kiel Yacht Club. The North German Nacra 17 aces had started their four races of the day in the lead. They returned to the harbour of S'Arenal in ninth place. In between, they took two "maximum penalties" with 35th, 12th and 33rd place in exactly the only small wind window of four to seven knots, which suits the duo from the Kieler Yacht-Club less.
We were too slow. We lacked speed in the wind" (Paul Kohlhoff)
"It wasn't a huge surprise to us that we are struggling in this particular area, even though we are working hard on it and have already reduced the window," summarised Paul Kohlhoff. At 1.87 metres tall, he is one of the heaviest helmsmen in the fleet. The speed problem that the Kiel team had on this particular day usually disappears with just one or two knots more wind. On Thursday, however, the light winds showed no mercy. "We were too slow, we lacked speed upwind," was Paul Kohlhoff's unvarnished conclusion.
Among the Ilca 6 soloists, Julia Büsselberg from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club was able to move up to ninth place with a race win and the following 26th place before the remaining two races up to the final. She will be fighting for her place in the medal race of the top ten on Friday, which Hannah Anderssohn from Warnemünder Segel-Club, who started so strongly in the series, can hardly achieve in 41st place. What is striking about Mallorca is that both the reigning Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom (14th) from Denmark and the three-time Olympic medallist Marit Bouwmeester (12th) will have to fight for a place in the final on Friday after poor results on Thursday.
Bergmann/Wille with one hand on the Olympic ticket
In the 49er FX, Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille defended their third place with 8th, 9th, 9th and 14th places. The young up-and-coming duo from Mühlenberger Segel-Club, who cannot be caught by their national rivals in the internal Olympic elimination at their last elimination regatta, have one hand on the Olympic ticket. What the 22-year-old helmswoman and her 23-year-old foresailor are still missing for their Olympic premiere is a place on the national starting grid.
Three last national starting places will be awarded in the 49er FX at the Last Chance Regatta from 20 to 27 April in Hyères. The women from Hamburg want one. Whether they get it themselves or get help from team-mates from the Germany Sailing Team makes no difference. All it takes is for a GER crew to do well enough in the battle with other 49er FX countries that have not yet been able to secure a national starting place for the Olympic regatta. It is possible, and has happened in the past, that another German crew has secured the Nations Start place, but Bergmann/Wille have taken it as elimination winners.
The 49er men are also still lacking a place on the national starting grid as they battle for a place in the medal race at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía on Friday. In what is already their last elimination regatta, they also still have to achieve the required individual top twelve placing and the even more difficult to achieve top ten national placing in the final ranking of all three elimination regattas. After two consecutive Olympic bronze medals for the 49er aces Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel, there is a threat of an Olympic Games without any German male skiff participation.
Kiters on course for Olympic premiere
Things are looking better for the German kiters, who are looking forward to their Olympic premiere in good spirits. At the second of three qualifying regattas, Leonie Meyer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) was in third place two days before the end of the Trofeo. For her team-mates Jannis Maus (8th, Cuxkiters e. V.) and Flo Gruber (10th, NRV), the Olympic qualification final sprint is all about which of them will be allowed to fight for Olympic medals in the Bay of Marseille this summer.
Theresa Steinlein and Sebastian Kördel have no nationally equal competitors to fear in the iQFoil windsurfing discipline, which is also a new Olympic discipline. Both are heading towards their Olympic debut, with 2022 World Champion and 2023 Vice World Champion Sebastian Kördel currently having to make sure that he reaches the top eleven before Palma after his botched World Championships at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía at the start of the season in order to clear the final DOSB qualification hurdle. On Thursday, however, the windsurfers were not in action because the races of the men's and women's iQFoil fleets were cancelled in the flat conditions.
Last but not least, a look at the most competitive national Olympic elimination in the 470 Mixed: In the only flat race of the day today, Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/NRV), who were leading the elimination, swapped places in the intermediate classification. Diesch/Markfort are in fourth place in Spain with 31 points after a total of seven races, while the Winkels are in fifth place with 34 points.
Diesch/Markfort remain strong in the 470 Mixed
The 2022 World Champions Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth slipped back to 16th place in the 470 Mixed at the second of the three elimination regattas with 22nd place on Thursday and a total of 52 points. However, as all crews are still close together, Wanser/Autenrieth are only eight points off tenth place before the last three races to the final. This means that the medal race is still within their reach.
For the time being, however, Diesch/Markfort remained in the most comfortable position, having come to Spain in fourth place in the battle for just one German 470 Mixed Olympic ticket, eight points ahead of Winkel/Winkel and nine points ahead of Wanser/Autenrieth - and so far they have not wavered.
A summary of the dull Thursday:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
