Two skiff sailors and one windsurfer will compete for Olympic medals tomorrow in the Bay of Marseille. After Hamburg’s Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Mühlenberger Segel-Club), windsurfer Theresa Steinlein (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) has also qualified in eighth place for the finals of the new Olympic IQFOiL discipline. Because the skiff sailors’ medal races planned for Thursday had to be postponed to Friday, August 2nd will bring four finals. In addition to the 49erFX and 49er best from 12.10 p.m. and 1.10 p.m., the best new Olympic iQFOiL windsurfers will also be challenged in their finals from 2 p.m.
Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille reacted relaxed on Thursday after a long wait, a short detour to the medal course, the cancellation of their final showdown and the postponement to the following day. Hanna Wille said before the final, which now takes place on Friday with a chance of a medal for her fifth-placed team: “The postponement today could be an advantage for us because the favorites’ nerves are more strained. Nothing has changed for us. We are in good spirits. We are looking forward to sailing the medal race and will enjoy competing here one last time at the Olympics.”
Unlike the sailors, the windsurfers do not take their points from the 14 main round races into the final. As eighth, Theresa Steinlein will first compete in the knockout quarter-finals on Friday for all of the starters ranked fourth to tenth after the main round. The best two quarter-finalists advance to the semi-finals after just one knockout race. There they will meet the second and third-place finishers from the main round who have already been seeded. The two best semi-finalists will meet the number one from the main round who is waiting there after just one race in the final.
The windsurfing format is as simple as it is full of opportunities. Even a tenth-place finisher after the main round can become an Olympic champion. “Everything is possible,” says Theresa Steinlein, who, like Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille, is making German fans dream. The most successful windsurfer from the NRV Olympic Team in Hamburg will start the women’s iQFOiL quarterfinals at 2 p.m. She is looking forward to the challenge, saying: “The area here is mega patchy. I like it because you have to think for yourself. I’m happy that the wind has been like this so far – you don’t have to be heavy and shoot into the corners.”
DSV sports director Nadine Stegenwalner was delighted for the successful women of the national sailing team in the Olympic port of Marseille. “Marla, Hanna and Theresa have competed in a sensational event and have already won. They have mastered all the challenges brilliantly – the heat, challenging wind conditions and a lot of waiting time. Everything that comes now is the icing on the cake.”
Sebastian Kördel, on the other hand, was disappointed in the evening. The 2022 world champion and 2023 vice world champion had started his Olympic debut as co-favorite. On Thursday, after a botched start, a remarkable comeback and a final day of the main round without luck, he missed the final cut by six points in twelfth place. The 33-year-old from Radolfzell had led by a large margin in the last race of the series before it was canceled on the finish line. The race victory, which was already within reach, would have brought the windsurfer from the North German Regatta Association a place in the final. Without it, it was not enough, six points behind the saving tenth place. “The cancellation of the race was an incredible shame. I am very disappointed today. But with the two race wins I was at least able to show that I belong here,” said “Basti” Kördel on the beach in Marseille.
Philipp Buhl (Segelclub Alpsee Immenstadt and NRV) is in 18th place after the first two races © DSV/Sailing Energy
On the fifth day of the Olympic Regatta in Marseille, Philipp Buhl (Alpsee-Immenstadt Sailing Club/North German Regatta Association) and Julia Büsselberg (Seglerhaus am Wannsee Association) entered their series. Ilca-7 helmsman Philipp Buhl started his third Olympic participation well with seventh place, before he lost his rhythm with a self-inflicted collision and two penalty circles and only finished in 30th place. Buhl will start his second day of racing on Tuesday in 18th place. The 34-year-old said: “I’m taking a good race, a good attitude and a bit of anger about the self-inflicted collision with me into the second day. I will tackle this series race by race and day by day, above all looking forward and not back.”
Ilca-6 helmswoman Julia Büsselberg crossed the finish line in tenth place in the first and only race of her fleet. “A race is better than no race,” said the 24-year-old Berliner, not without humor. She continued to report on the start of her Olympic debut: “Outside, the conditions were actually better than expected: ten knots of wind, choppy waves. I figured out the focus points for the day relatively quickly. On the whole, I implemented them well and brought them to the finish line solidly.”
