Silver for Croatia, bronze for Austria

World Championship medals awarded to the star boats at Kieler Woche

Theresa Steinlein and Sebastian Kördel remain the benchmarks in the new Olympic surf discipline iQ-Foil at Kieler Woche. The two athletes from NRV Hamburg maintained their top positions after six races on Saturday. On the other hand, Julia Büsselberg from Berlin lost her place on the podium in the also Olympic ILCA 6 class and is now only seventh. Agata Barwinska of Poland remained in front ahead of Hannah Snellgrove of Great Britain. After the early title win of the Italian Diego Negri with Frithjof Kleen from Berlin at the Star Class World Championship, the opponents Tonçi Stipanovic and Tudor Bilic from Croatia secured "silver" ahead of the Austrians Johann Spitzauer/Hans-Christian Nehammer after long protest negotiations. In the 29er Euro Cup of the youngsters, the young Zarnekauer brothers Anton (13) and Johann Sach (16) are surprisingly in the lead before the final day.

The final race of the Star Class World Championships was very exciting, although the new title holders Kleen and Negri were already allowed to rest. For the remaining field of 82 boats from 18 nations, it was all about the further medals and placings. The day ended in front of the jury with tough protests and some disappointments. Then Stipanovic/Bilic and Spitzauer/Nehammer celebrated their triumphs on the podium.

With the last race of the day, Theresa Steinlein on the iQFoil at the top built up a small points cushion before the final day. Photo: Sascha Klahn

She flies to the front from the 420

"Resi did a clever job today, especially in the last race," father and coach Markus Steinlein reported of his daughter Theresa’s second place, who had "trained a lot and set her sights just as high", also for the premiere of the iQs at Kieler Woche. The tactics in challenging shifting winds still stem from her sailing career in the 420, where she once won bronze at the Youth World Championships. In the meantime, the 21-year-old lives on Lake Garda and leads by seven points ahead of the top favourite Lena Erdil, who only came seventh in the final race of the day. Sophia Meyer from Berlin is third, just ahead of Aleksandra Blinnikka from Finland.

"A bit too brave", but everything under control

Sebastian Kördel still has everything under control in the men’s competition. However, he lost a possible clean slate at the first Kieler Woche despite nine race wins. "I had a false start and was a bit too brave," said Kördel, who had only been beaten once by second-placed Nicolas Prien. As the number three in the field, Fabian Wolf (both from Kiel), was also caught in the early start, the way was clear for Prien’s second win of the day. Before the last three races on Sunday, however, he is already twelve points behind the outstanding Kördel.

Bad luck for Julia Büsselberg

Two days Julia Büsselberg was happy about third place in the Olympic class of the ILCA 6 women, now she unexpectedly dropped back to seventh place. "I didn’t start the day that great. I was still okay with eleventh place in the first race. Then I got a yellow flag from the jury without understanding why. After that I had a false start. But on Sunday I’m going to step on the gas again and maybe I won’t be in the focus of the opponents as much as I was in the pink jersey," said the German Sailing Team member from Berlin.

"It was really difficult with holes in the slack water and strong gusts, but all in all I am of course very satisfied," said Ole Schweckendiek, summing up the men’s day in the international Laser Radial (ILCA 6). No wonder, as the Kieler already has a 26-point lead over Jonas M. Mager from Hamburg and 38 over Rasmus Granzin from Sweden.

Dream fulfilled: On TV in yellow

Johann Sach (16) has dreamed of this since he was a little boy: to sail in a coloured jersey on the TV course at the Kieler Woche. That it would be the yellow one for the leaders on the final day (12 September) of the 29er Euro Cup with his brother and helmsman Anton (13), probably no one in the junior scene would have thought possible. Not father Christian, at any rate. "That’s already incredibly strong, because it was very difficult wind conditions on the Juliett course, the gusts and turns hard to anticipate." The catamaran sailor (fourth in the F-18 World Championships with his brother Helge) should know, as he keeps in close contact with the action, if not being there himself in a motorboat. And Johann confirms: "It was much less about boat speed than before, but a clever tactic. Alternately, sometimes one side of the course was favoured and sometimes the other."

And in the gold fleet of the top half of the results list, things went up and down violently. The second-placed Swedish siblings Hedvig and Hugo Liljegren caught a 30th as a stringer, Sach/Sach "only" a 21st. They will go into the last two races on Sunday, which will be broadcast on kielerwoche.tv from 11 am, with a lead of three points. The previous overall leaders, the brothers Jens-Christof and Jens-Philip Dehn-Toftehøj from Denmark, were doomed by their early start disqualification from the previous day. They were unable to cross off two 19th places and fell 13 points behind the Sachs to third place, only two points ahead of Carl Krause and Max Georgi (Rostock).

Change of leadership in the J/70

After two days at the top of the J/70 field, Hamburg skipper Carsten Kemmling had to cede the leading position to Claas Lehmann (both NRV Hamburg), who moved up from third. "We sailed steadily in front. Now it’s off to bed early, because it will be exciting again at the end," said Lehmann. In the Bundesliga, he sits in the boat together with second-placed Lukas Feuerherdt from Blankeneser Segel-Club. "We know each other well and know exactly where each other’s strengths lie. That makes it particularly exciting," said Feuerherdt. Julian Ramm dropped from two to three at the helm of the "Voice of Itzehoe".
 

The lead in the J/24 class was defended by the crew of Fabian Damm (SV Altona-Oevelgönne) ahead of Stefan Karsunkes from Blankeneser Segel-Club. Third is Manfred König with his "Vitesse" team under the flag of the Hamburger Segel-Club.

Silver Ribbon over 136.3 nautical miles

In the early afternoon, 30 seagoing yachts in the two groups ORC I/II and III/IV started for the "Silver Ribbon". The long distance race leads over 136 nautical miles through the night around various lane marks to Denmark. In good conditions, the fastest could reach the finish before dawn.