Kieler Woche 2018 - Day 9
by Andy Rice 24 Jun 11:39 PDT
16-24 June 2018
Anne Marie Rindom © Sascha Klahn
Kiel's own top talent, Laser sailor Philipp Buhl won gold at the Sailing World Cup in Marseille two weeks ago by less than a metre. Today Buhl beat his British rival by a single point after a nailbiting race to the finish....
The final day of Kieler Woche brought plenty of drama as multiple Medal Races played out across the Olympic classes.
Laser Men
Elliot Hanson of Great Britain let gold slip through his fingers as he finished 9th in the Medal Race. Arch rival Philipp Buhl wasn't having a great race either but was gifted a vital place just before the finish when Estonia's Karl-Martin Rammo was made to do a 360 penalty for a Rule 42 kinetics infringement. Buhl overtook the Estonian and crossed the finish in 7th place, the German from Kiel taking his fifth Kieler Woche gold by a single point from Hanson. Bronze went to Croatia's Filip Jurišic.
Laser Radial
After dominating qualification with a perfect string of bullets, the wheels fell off Maxime Jonker's campaign in the latter stages. Today the Dutch sailor finished last in the Medal Race, leaving her the wrong side of a tie-break for bronze which went in favour of Sweden's Josefin Olsson. The Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Anne Marie Rindom won the Medal Race and secured gold for Denmark. Norway's Line Flem Höst took silver.
Nacra 17
John Gimson and Anna Burnet clung on to gold by the skin of their teeth as the Brits raced to 6th across the line in the Medal Race. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin finished ahead in third but needed another place between themselves the Brits if they were to take the win. Instead the Aussies had to settle for silver just 1 point behind Gimson and Burnet. It was also a tight tussle for bronze with Thomas Zajac and Barbara Matz doing just enough to get third place by a point from Gemma Jones and Jason Waterhouse of New Zealand.
Finn
Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Caleb Paine won the Finn Medal Race but the American wasn't in the hunt for a medal today. A fourth place for Josh Junior was sufficient to seal gold for the New Zealander while a second place lifted Norway's Anders Pedersen to silver. Great Britain's Ed Wright could only manage eighth in the race, dropping the European Champion to bronze; New Zealander Andy Maloney just missed out on a medal, finishing four points behind Wright.
470 Men
Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström have made their mark on the 470 fleet this season with victories at the European Championships and the Sailing World Cup in Hyères. Today the Swedes went into the Medal Race with a small three-point advantage over the all-conquering Australians, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan. However, the Swedes had a poor race, finishing in 8th place, their worst score of the week.
Meanwhile the Aussies rose to the occasion, winning the Medal Race and taking the gold. The Swedes had to settle for silver while in the battle for bronze, France's Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion just got the better of Luke Patience and Chris Grube of Great Britain.
470 Women
Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou of Greece were in the driving seat going into the 470 Women's Medal Race but the experience of Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero shone through, with the Spanish team winning the race and taking the gold. The Greeks had to be satisfied with silver while bronze went to the best of the German crews, Nadine Böhm and Ann- Christin Goliaß.
49er Men
Mathieu Frei and Noe Delpech did all they could to secure a medal, the French team winning the Medal Race. However it wasn't quite enough as a fifth place was just enough for Lukasz Przybytek and Pawel Kolodzinski to secure bronze for Poland.
Olympic Champion of 2008, Jonas Warrer crewed by Jakob Jensen, sailed a solid week and wrapped up gold, with the Spanish brothers and class veterans, Federico/ Arturo Alonso taking the silver.
49erFX Women
Victory in the Medal Race very nearly brought Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth a 49erFX medal, but the Brits missed out on bronze by a single point. Sweden's Julia Gross and Hanna Klinga finished 3rd and were not far off the silver medal won by Germany's Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke. A second place in the Medal Race brought a comfortable gold for Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists.
Victory jump into the water
"Today it was different", said the Eurosaf Para Sailing European Championships winner in the 2.4mR Damien Seguin (France) beaming with joy: The wind had been less. But in big or lighter winds, Damien Seguin was almost always in the front.
He also won the Medal Race and can now look back to an almost perfect series of victories. On his results' list was only one second place, which was the discard and thus removed from the overall rating. "It was special." Seven victories during the past days is not usual for him either. And it was never that obvious on the water, as you might think looking at the ranking. In particular, it was very close with Heiko Kroeger. He just has always had that little bit more. Like in the Medal Race, when he had a perfect start. Heiko Kroeger crossed the finish line as the fourth boat and thus was on rank two in the end.
To keep the rank was the objective of Lasse Koetzing on the final day. He entered the race on rank three. To move up even more, was not possible. Therefore he wanted to defend his bronze position. "It went quite well. I did not have any real failures." He also got along well with the conditions. Since he had not sailed much in the last one and a half years, he was not looking at any specific ranking. In the Medal Race, he did attack once more short before the finish. But although he came close to the Norwegian, who was before him, he just did not make it. As the third at the finish line, he could confirm his target from the morning and could save the bronze medal for him.
"The usual suspects are in the front", stated Lasse Koetzing about the fleet, regretting that the fleet was quite small. "However we can be satisfied, that so many sailors came." After the Kiel Week he wants to concentrate mainly on his engineering studies and only sail the German Championships. "I am not coming to the Worlds." Since the 2.4mR is not Paralympic anymore, he wanted to demonstrate, that the boat class is still active, but is not under pressure anymore regarding qualifications. And on a financial level, the conditions are also different.
With a cheer, Piotr Cichocki (Poland) did jump from his Hansa 303 into the water at the marina and brought his boat back to the slipping area while swimming. "I am very happy", the new Para European Champion said with excitement. "It was a good race, good winds, but no good weather", was his conclusion of the last race day. "Sailing is my life. I am on the water each day. It is my work", explained Cichocki, who became fourth non-stop round the world in "The Race" 2000 on the catamaran Warta Polpharma with skipper Roman Paszke.
"In the end, it is all good", Jens Kroker is happy about his regained second place. At the start, he had not found the right distance to the mark and had to start on starboard. Afterwards, he moved up in the fleet from behind and finished as second. "That worked well. A nice finale." Piotr Cichocki could not be overtaken anymore after the optimum start. But Jens Kroker is nevertheless happy about the silver medal. "It could not have gone any better." Waldemar Wozniak from Poland did win bronze.
Young, wild and successful
Caelin Winchcombe (Australia) did leave the bad previous day behind. He was fully concentrating on the current races and demonstrated that he could still fight for the medals. He managed to do so in both races. So he did win one after the other.
"It was okay", he commented on his result. He simply had tried to win the race, and succeeded in doing so two times. "Today it was easier, because we had consistent winds." With his two victories on that day he managed to win the bronze medal at the Worlds.
His training partner Zac Littlewood (Australia) did defend his leading position in the overall ranking and is the new World Champion in the Laser Radial. He went into the last races relaxed. "I am here to learn and win races", he said. In the second race he realised: "I am the World Champion That is crazy." He cannot really believe it yet.
Aleksander Arian (Poland) did squeeze in between the two Australians. "I knew, that I had to sail among the best five to win a medal." While he managed to do so in the first race, he crossed the finish line as the 15th boat in the second race. He had not given way, when he was on port tack and had to do a 360. "I had won the start, but then there was the rule violation. That happens", he commented. Because he can discard that result, he still made it onto rank two of the Worlds. "I am very happy." Especially, since he could not train that much and had to suffer from pain after an operation on his ankle.
His training partner and title defender Marcin Rudawski, who had a promising start into the day, had to cope with a disqualification and thus could not win a medal anymore. "He got his second yellow flag. I am very sorry for him", said Aleksander Arian.
You can check out all the results here.
www.kieler-woche.de