World Championship iQFoil: Low blow for Kördel, Steinlein secures a place in the national team for the Olympics

One man's sorrow was another man's happiness at the iQFoil World Windsurfing Championships off Lanzarote. While Sebastian Kördel surprisingly and lastingly lost his way after a strong start, Theresa Steinlein secured the eighth of a maximum of ten possible places for Germany's Olympic sailors with the best World Championship result of her young career. The only thing missing now are the two national starting places for the 49er and 49er FX skiff disciplines.

Botched season opener for a high-flyer

In the still young history of the new Olympic sailing discipline iQFoil, Sebastian Kördel has never had such a miserable World Championship result as this week. Now this has happened to him at the very beginning of the year in which he wants to win a medal at the Olympic iQFoil premiere in the Bay of Marseille this summer: the 2022 World Champion and 2023 Vice World Champion finished the 2024 World Championships in 28th place.

Shortly after the World Championship final, the otherwise so confident German windsurfing giant still had no concrete answer to the question of why. He will try to find this answer together with his coach Dom Tidey after a short breather. A period of rest before the World Championships that did not go according to plan, an illness that "knocked him out" of the iQGames, a lot of movement in his sporting environment, the early timing of the World Championships and a number of other points could serve as pieces of the puzzle in the search for the answer.

I was reasonably healthy and I messed it up myself" (Sebastian Kördel)

"I think the management of my recovery phases played a role, but I don't want to cry about it. It just didn't work out at this World Championship. I was reasonably healthy and I messed it up myself. I simply struggled, was on the wrong side too often and wasn't there in terms of speed either," said Kördel in an initial, unsparing assessment of himself.

At the same time, Kördel knew: "I need a few days now. But I have a good team around me and I'm confident that we can get my performance back on track." With the iQFoil Games (4 to 9 March) and the Majorca classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía (30 March to 6 April), the 33-year-old medallist from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein has two more elimination regattas left to secure his individual Olympic ticket and also personally fill the nation starting place for Germany's Olympic sailors that he himself has already secured for 2023.

iQFoil women: Olympic Nations Championship place secured for Germany

His 21-year-old team and club mate Theresa Steinlein is pursuing the same goal. The young iQFoil athlete, who only switched to the new Olympic windsurfing board three years ago, has now also secured an Olympic spot for Germany's female windsurfers with her 18th place at the World Championships.

Whether Theresa Steinlein, currently the best German iQFoil athlete, will be able to fill this national starting place herself depends, as with Sebastian Kördel, on her performance in the next two qualifying regattas. Basically, if you want to get your individual Olympic ticket for the start at the Olympic regatta in the Bay of Marseille (28 July to 8 August), you have to win through nationally and at the same time fulfil the criteria of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for the Olympic start.

The difficult path to an individual Olympic ticket

The path to an individual Olympic ticket is not easy: the candidates must be ahead in all ten Olympic sailing disciplines in the final standings after three fixed elimination regattas in the national comparison. In addition, they must have finished twelfth or better at least once in one of the three regattas. And thirdly, they must be ranked among the top ten nations in the international comparison of all three qualifying regatta results.

Kördel and Steinlein, currently the leading athletes in their discipline in Germany, will be battling it out. DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner still has every confidence in perennial favourite Sebastian Kördel despite his unsuccessful World Championships: "Sebastian is and remains a guarantor of performance, has regularly surfed onto the podium for years and has won major titles in a row. A weak series doesn't change the fact that he is one of the best in his discipline internationally and will show this again in the future."

I trained very intensively here for three months. It has really paid off" (Theresa Steinlein)

Commenting on Theresa Steinlein's performance, Nadine Stegenwalner said: "Theresa sailed a strong World Championship. The eighth place in the Nations Cup is secured - that's a great interim result for the German Sailing Team on course for Paris 2024." After her success on the way to the top, Theresa Steinlein herself points to several helpful factors, saying: "I trained very intensively here for three months. That has really paid off."

And this is despite the fact that Theresa Steinlein broke her wrist in September 2023. After successful treatment and rehab, she started the Olympic season stronger than before. "I got over the injury well. That and the short break really motivated me," says the twin sister of 49er FX helmswoman Sophie Steinlein.

I couldn't imagine a better coach" (Theresa Steinlein)

Theresa Steinlein also attributes her World Championship performance to the good cooperation with coach Daniel Slijk: "I couldn't imagine a better coach. He understands me and adapts our work very well to my needs." At 1.63 metres tall, the iQFoil windsurfer has also recently made good progress towards gaining more body weight. However, at around 62 kilograms, she still lacks some weight compared to the top female athletes. At the World Championships, she therefore had a 1,300-calorie goodnight shake every day before going to sleep.

Theresa Steinlein's Olympic dream is alive. Determined but cautious, she says of her goal of taking part in the Olympics: "I'm optimistic. First of all, I'm happy that I was able to secure a place for Germany in the national team. That was a big step. But I won't be happy until I've got my Olympic ticket in the bag."

World Championship gold goes to Italy and Israel

The world champion in the men's iQFoil off Lanzarote was the Italian Nicolo Renna, ahead of Pawel Tarnowski (Poland) and defending champion Luuc van Opzeeland. Last year, Sebastian Kördel had a spectacularly exciting battle with the new champion and the bronze medallist for the World Championship medals in The Hague. Kördel wants to pick up where he left off as quickly as possible. Sharon Kantor from Israel became world champion in the women's event. Britain's Emma Wilson took silver ahead of Katy Spychakov (Israel).

Click here for the final results of the iQFoil World Championship 2024.