Scheidt headlines a cast of Olympic Stars at Kiel Week

by SVG Verlag on 20 Jun 2017 Robert Scheidt continues his extraordinary career in Olympic sailing as he returns to Kiel Week, where the legendary Brazilian will be competing in the 49er skiff class.

Racing with his team mate Gabriel Borges, the 44-year-old five-time Olympic medallist is one of a number of big names competing at Kieler Woche, the largest sailing regatta in the world. While the first half of the regatta finished today with a variety of international classes completing their racing, Wednesday sees the start of the Olympic classes as well as the Para World Sailing Championships.

Scheidt will be up against the likes of top German crew Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel who won Olympic bronze in the 49er last year at Rio 2016. In the women’s skiff, the 49er FX, New Zealand’s Olympic silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech will be the ones to beat. Maloney will also be cheering louder than most Kiwis for the America’s Cup crew in Bermuda, because her brother Andy is sailing/cycling on board Emirates Team New Zealand, currently 3-0 up on Oracle Team USA.

Another set of Rio silver medallists are competing in the Men’s 470 division, Australia’s Mat Belcher and Will Ryan, seeking to re-establish their dominance in the fleet and certainly the favourites for victory this week in Kiel. The international appeal of Kieler Woche is typified by the presence of Indian teams in both the Men’s and Women’s 470 fleets, and in the Laser Men’s division the entry list of 153 athletes will test the sailor’s big fleet tactical skills like few other events on the calendar.

It’s a pretty impressive turnout in the Women’s Laser Radial singlehanders too, with Anne-Marie Rindom one of the favourites among the 79 entrants. The former World Champion and Rio 2016 bronze medallist from Denmark will still have to sail hard to stay ahead of the likes of the USA’s Erika Reineke and Greece’s Vasileia Karachaliou, who stood on the podium at the World Sailing Cup Finals in Spain earlier this month.

So far the weather has delivered one of the hottest, sunniest Kiel Weeks in recent memory. It’s looking a bit more changeable towards the weekend but that’s one of the challenges of racing in Kiel. To win here, you’ve got to be adaptable and ready for anything.