Kieler Woche - Day 5
by Hermann Hell 21 Jun 2012 05:40 AEST
16-24 June 2012
Enthralling Medal Race: Philipp Buhl takes revenge
The Medal Race at the Kiel Week was once more the crowning highlight at the end of the races for the Olympic classes. And again the final of the Lasers with a live broadcast in front of the Audi Lounge attracted the audience. Philipp Buhl (Sonthofen) took the revenge for the previous year, finishing first in the last race and thus managed to be in front of Simon Grotelueschen (Kiel) overall. With his victory in Hyeres (France) this is his second time winning a Worldcup race series this year.
The 470 class was dominated by the German teams Ferdinand Gerz/Patrick Follmann (Munich) and Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka (Berlin/Uerdingen), and Tobias Schadewaldt/Hannes Baumann (Kiel) could defend their title from the last year in the 49er. Denniss Karpak from Estonia became first in the Finn and in the paralympic class 2.4nR absolute favorite Damien Seguin from France could win the title. In the Laser Radial, Tatiana Drozdovskaya from Belarus was finally just in front of Franziska Goltz (Kiel), a question about millimeters.
Stating highest recognition, titleholder Simon Grotelueschen congratulated his successor to the throne Philipp Buhl right after crossing the finishing line. Still on the water, Grotelueschen took of the yellow jersey for the leader, he had been wearing when going into the final, and gave it to his competitor. With fist-on-fist they congratulated themselves for the German double success. "I am very happy to be able to win this year, after just having missed the victory last year", said Buhl.
Tobias Schadewaldt/Hannes Baumann could successfully defend the title in the 49er.
The 470 final was not that spectacular. Ferdinand Gerz/Patrick Follmann had a good start, had the fleet under control and were concentrating on their direct competitors Magnus Masilge/Moritz Klingenberg (Potsdam). With the third place, Gerz/Patrick Follmann are the overall winners. That not too many international competitors had come, was not a big issue for Gerz. "It just feels great, because Kiel Week is just Kiel Week."
For DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner four victories for the Germans were a major success: "We are very satisfied. It is much fun, and we are hoping for more. And the young teams will grant four more interesting years for us." Chief organiser Jobst Richter had a split resumé for the event: "We had a fantastic finish, where even five kiters could demonstrate how their class events could look like in the future. But we were pretty disappointed about the low entry numbers for the Olympic classes, especially that the surfers dropped out completely."
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