Erik Kosegarten-Heil and the Germany SailGP Team would have loved to fight for their historic first entry into a SailGP event final this Saturday off Saint-Tropez. They had laid the foundations for this the day before with fourth place in the intermediate classification after four races at the French Grand Prix.
Thunder and lightning in the SailGP: Race day cancelled
But then came the cancellation of the second day of racing. The league announced this safety measure on Saturday morning: "Due to approaching thunderstorms, the second day of the Rockwool France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez has been cancelled." With less than a week to go until the next event on Lake Geneva on 20 and 21 September, the fear of breakage was too great.
German coach Lennart Briesenick also sympathised with the decision. The Flensburg native called it "wise", but regretted it and said: "It's still a shame. We were full of enthusiasm to reach the final for once."
With the cancellation of race day two, the league also confirmed the final standings in Saint-Tropez: "The results of the weekend will be calculated based on the placings after the first day." Team Emirates GBR with helmsman Dylan Fletcher won ahead of New Zealand's Black Foils with Peter Burling and Diego Botin's Spanish Los Gallos.
Three Olympic skiff champions on the SailGP podium
This meant that three 49er Olympic champions shared the podium. They were followed by a two-time Olympic bronze medallist in the 49er: Erik Kosegarten-Heil and the Germany SailGP Team opened the test of strength on the Riviera on Friday with tenth place after a poor start, but then steadily worked their way up to fourth place. Black-Red-Gold thus collected nine valuable points for the season championship. Click here for the final results from Saint-Tropez.
Until the Swiss SailGP summit, New Zealand (70 points) has taken the lead in the league ahead of the British (68 points) and record winner Australia (67 points). Team Germany is still in eleventh place with 13 points, but has managed to close the gap to Martine Grael and her team Mubadala Brazil (14 points) to just one point. Click here for the season standings. Three events remain in Switzerland, in Cádiz in Andalusia (4/5 October) and at the final on 29 and 30 October in Abu Dhabi, where all the teams will be looking to improve their record.
Team Germany is on the right track. Things are looking up for Team Germany, who were still struggling in the first half of the year. A hail of penalties after several training collisions in Sydney and too many weak starts had initially thrown the Germans into the red and to the bottom of the league standings. The comeback is looking increasingly convincing.
New grinder in the German SailGP game
The starts in Saint-Tropez were not yet compelling, but the performances on the short course were much better. A sailor from Kiel contributed to the strong German fourth place in France for the first time: Linov Scheel also comes from the 49er class, had narrowly lost the national Olympic elimination on the Paris 2024 course and is sailing to new shores in the SailGP.
The first time was mega fun, but also mega hard." Linov Scheel
Scheel's premiere took place in the second race on Friday, where things went better for the Germans race after race with 10th, 5th, 5th and 2nd place overall. According to Scheel, as a grinder he hardly noticed anything during the intensive race. The 28-year-old came in for Felix Van den Hövel from Munich, who is almost a decade older.
Commenting on the crew change, coach Lennart Briesenick said: "I have great respect for Felix and his decision to make room." At the same time, Briesenick emphasised: "This is high-performance sport and he's naturally getting a bit older. We are all extremely grateful to Felix and assume that he will remain in the team."
More German SailGP talents in the starting blocks
Those who had already taken a closer look at the SailGP in Sassnitz were able to discover further German talents there, who have long been supporting the team in various areas, such as Linov Scheel, Caspar Ilgenstein, Lukas Hesse and others, some of whom have already taken part in sightings and may one day get their chance to race. Among them is the new German 49er star Richard Schultheis.
Born in Berlin and raised in Malta, the 20-year-old helmsman and two-time World Championship fifth-placer in the Moth is currently one of the biggest talents in Olympic sailing and has his sights set on the 2028 Games in LA in the 49er with coxswain Fabian Rieger. Depending on availability and performance, Schultheis could get his chance in the German SailGP team in the future, as could the young Kiel Ilca 7 ace Ole Schweckendiek and other young up-and-comers.
Until then, Erik Kosegarten-Heil and the team want to concentrate on making progress in the world league of high-speed sailing. This will continue almost seamlessly next weekend at the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix on Saturday and Sunday.
