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North Sails Loft 57 Podcast

Thomas Hansson-Mild back on top in OK Dinghy World Ranking

by Robert Deaves 1 Dec 2023 05:12 PST
Thomas Hansson-Mild on Garda © Robert Deaves

Former world No 1, Thomas Hansson-Mild, from Sweden, returns to the No.1 spot in the final OK Dinghy World Rankings of 2023. Germany's André Budzien climbs five places to second, while Denmark's Jens Eckhardt moves up to third, and into the top 10 for the first time.

The latest release includes results from the European Championship at Arco, Lake Garda, the Nordics in Hellerup, Denmark, the Autumn Trophy in Bandol, France, the UK Inland Championship, the Belgian National Championship in Antwerp, and the 2024 New Zealand Nationals in Napier.

Hansson-Mild was briefly ousted from the top spot in August by fellow Swede Niklas Edler, and only took one podium in all these events, winning the Nordics, Meanwhile Edler skipped the European Championship and lost valuable points to drop to 14th.

Five-time world champion, Nick Craig, from Britain, returns to the top 10 for the first time in 10 years, having now done enough events over the past two years. He took a close silver at the Europeans as well as wins in Bandol and the UK Inlands. Denmark's Henrik Kofoed Larsen also enters the top 10 for the first time in four years.

The Europeans produced a clean sweep for the UK, with ninth ranked Charlie Cumbley winning from Craig and Matt Howard. In addition, Andy Davis won the Belgians and took second at the UK Inlands just after Bandol and is lurking just outside the top 10, in 11th place.

Meanwhile the southern hemisphere season has begun with the New Zealand nationals last weekend. Steve McDowell won from Mark Perrow and Gordon Sims. Sims remains the highest ranked New Zealand based Kiwi in 18th place, while European based Greg Wilcox drops two places to seventh.

With the European season now over, all eyes will soon turn to Brisbane for the 2024 World Championship, in Brisbane in three months' time, which has an excellent entry of around 90 boats, and which will be the largest OK Dinghy worlds ever held in Australia. Two containers are heading from Europe, the first time boats have been shipped between continents since 2019 as prices continue to return to pre-pandemic levels.

What's going to be interesting to watch is that five out of the top 10 in the World Rankings are not sailing the world championship, so there could be some big changes for the next ranking list in April 2024.

The 2024 season will also bring another first for the class with the European Championship heading to Palma, Mallorca, in October to support the fast-growing Spanish fleet there.

Major dates for 2024 are:
World Championship, Royal Queensland YS, AUS, 26 Feb - 2 March
Spring Cup, Medemblik, NED, 3-5 May
Autumn Trophy, Bandol, FRA, 22-25 October
European Championship, Palma, ESP, 28 Oct-3 Nov

More details on okdia.org

Top 100 Ranking: Download full ranking (Excel)

PosCountrySail NoNamePointsEvents sailed
1SWE100Thomas Hansson‑Mild1004.3910
2GER71André Budzien968.419
3DEN12Jens Eckardt958.705
4SWE73Patric Mure927.5612
5GBR2261Nick Craig921.976
6DEN21Bo Petersen919.2912
7NZL15Greg Wilcox918.1216
8AUS5Brent Williams890.1010
9GBR6Charlie Cumbley885.154
10DEN61Henrik Kofoed Larsen87756
11GBR11Andy Davis856.398
12GER77Sönke Behrens838.2110
13DEN22Ask Askholm822.297
14SWE71Niklas Edler808.125
15GER19Ulli Kurfeld784.866
16FRA11Valerian Lebrun769.124
17AUS8Mark Jackson767.157
18NZL60Gordon Sims760.138
19THA444Morton Jakaobsen758.337
20NOR6Halvor Schøyen756.217
21NZL4Mark Perrow74239
22GER5Ralf Tietje732.7614
23GER32Fabian Rossbacher719.2815
24DEN20Jesper Højer716.5410
25SWE20Stefan Pavia709.577
26GER7Andreas Pich706.7012
27GBR49James Downer688.885
28NOR428Lars Johan Brodtkorb687.414
29POL777Michal Strumnik677.399
30NZL11Steve McDowell675.486
31GBR69Terry Curtis672.114
32SWE24Daniel Björndahl66915
33GBR2260Ed Bradburn663.575
34AUS7Glenn Williams660.3911
35AUS749Roger Blassé652.664
36GER4Lutz Boguhn640.4111
37DEN7Malte Pedersen616.4315
38POL14Pawel Pawlaczyk610.536
39SWE2884Lars Bergfeldt604.387
40NZL55Simon Probert602.938
41GBR91Russell Clark599.535
42BEL235Steven Jamar598.698
43DEN65Anders Gerhardt‑Hansen597.727
44DEN24Steen Christensen594.315
45FRA8Timothée Petetin590.376
46SWE139Hans Börjesson588.867
47SWE386Mikael Björndal577.223
48SWE72Benjemin Hammerö56986
49DEN1577Jørgen Holm559.158
50AUS729André Blassé551.194
51GBR17David Bourne550.984
52SWE722Stefan Jaenson543.506
53GER11Rainer Pospiech540.488
54SWE14Häken Soderberg525.648
55POL17Jaroslaw Radzki516.168
56GER852Michael Nissen505.9810
57GBR2279Matthew Howard494.252
58GER81Jan‑Dietmar Dellas473.7513
59GER18Jan Kurfeld466.774
60GBR2185Thomas Southwell465.867
61GBR2264Jim Hunt461.583
62SWE2908Laban Sorén456.805
63AUS4Peter Robinson446.506
64GBR999Simon Davis444.686
65FRA86Patrick Debaere440.968
66GBR2252Tony Woods440.715
67GER78Stefan Haage439.279
68DEN76Thomas Gabs435.594
69DEN1497Michael Dinesen433.354
70NED27Stephan Veldman430.288
71GER22Dirk Gericke428.475
72GER71Sebastian Kaule427.834
73GER72Oliver Gronholz425.967
74GBR8Richard Burton423.773
75SWE436Johan Astradsson420.714
76IRL10Tim Goodbody409.683
77AUS773Dave Ketteridge408.704
78DEN25Søren Sigurdsson405.596
79SWE99Hans Elkjaer405.117
80AUS694Gary McLennan404.564
81DEN1598Lars Espersen4013
82AUS811David Meehan398.613
83POL7Marek Bernat396.986
84ESP77Mark Branagh396.423
85GER98Johannes Janhsen392.835
86GBR44Chris Turner392.482
87GBR2221Andy Dalby389.395
88GBR8Tom Lonsdale389.223
89GBR13Alex Scoles387.903
90SWE101Pontus Gabel386.107
91GBR2104Charlie Maunder383.613
92GER73Thomas Glas382.414
93GER79Frank Strelow381.287
94GBR28Anthony Osman379.842
95GER66Christian Kirchner376.4110
96GBR2245Henry Wetherall3751
97GBR92Sam Thomson372.314
98BEL236Frédéric Geboers366.256
99POL13Tomasz Flisiak365.184
100GBR2261Andrew Mill364.861

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