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)
| Pos | Country | Sail No | Name | Points | Events sailed |
|---|
| 1 | SWE | 100 | Thomas Hansson‑Mild | 1004.39 | 10 |
| 2 | GER | 71 | André Budzien | 968.41 | 9 |
| 3 | DEN | 12 | Jens Eckardt | 958.70 | 5 |
| 4 | SWE | 73 | Patric Mure | 927.56 | 12 |
| 5 | GBR | 2261 | Nick Craig | 921.97 | 6 |
| 6 | DEN | 21 | Bo Petersen | 919.29 | 12 |
| 7 | NZL | 15 | Greg Wilcox | 918.12 | 16 |
| 8 | AUS | 5 | Brent Williams | 890.10 | 10 |
| 9 | GBR | 6 | Charlie Cumbley | 885.15 | 4 |
| 10 | DEN | 61 | Henrik Kofoed Larsen | 8775 | 6 |
| 11 | GBR | 11 | Andy Davis | 856.39 | 8 |
| 12 | GER | 77 | Sönke Behrens | 838.21 | 10 |
| 13 | DEN | 22 | Ask Askholm | 822.29 | 7 |
| 14 | SWE | 71 | Niklas Edler | 808.12 | 5 |
| 15 | GER | 19 | Ulli Kurfeld | 784.86 | 6 |
| 16 | FRA | 11 | Valerian Lebrun | 769.12 | 4 |
| 17 | AUS | 8 | Mark Jackson | 767.15 | 7 |
| 18 | NZL | 60 | Gordon Sims | 760.13 | 8 |
| 19 | THA | 444 | Morton Jakaobsen | 758.33 | 7 |
| 20 | NOR | 6 | Halvor Schøyen | 756.21 | 7 |
| 21 | NZL | 4 | Mark Perrow | 7423 | 9 |
| 22 | GER | 5 | Ralf Tietje | 732.76 | 14 |
| 23 | GER | 32 | Fabian Rossbacher | 719.28 | 15 |
| 24 | DEN | 20 | Jesper Højer | 716.54 | 10 |
| 25 | SWE | 20 | Stefan Pavia | 709.57 | 7 |
| 26 | GER | 7 | Andreas Pich | 706.70 | 12 |
| 27 | GBR | 49 | James Downer | 688.88 | 5 |
| 28 | NOR | 428 | Lars Johan Brodtkorb | 687.41 | 4 |
| 29 | POL | 777 | Michal Strumnik | 677.39 | 9 |
| 30 | NZL | 11 | Steve McDowell | 675.48 | 6 |
| 31 | GBR | 69 | Terry Curtis | 672.11 | 4 |
| 32 | SWE | 24 | Daniel Björndahl | 6691 | 5 |
| 33 | GBR | 2260 | Ed Bradburn | 663.57 | 5 |
| 34 | AUS | 7 | Glenn Williams | 660.39 | 11 |
| 35 | AUS | 749 | Roger Blassé | 652.66 | 4 |
| 36 | GER | 4 | Lutz Boguhn | 640.41 | 11 |
| 37 | DEN | 7 | Malte Pedersen | 616.43 | 15 |
| 38 | POL | 14 | Pawel Pawlaczyk | 610.53 | 6 |
| 39 | SWE | 2884 | Lars Bergfeldt | 604.38 | 7 |
| 40 | NZL | 55 | Simon Probert | 602.93 | 8 |
| 41 | GBR | 91 | Russell Clark | 599.53 | 5 |
| 42 | BEL | 235 | Steven Jamar | 598.69 | 8 |
| 43 | DEN | 65 | Anders Gerhardt‑Hansen | 597.72 | 7 |
| 44 | DEN | 24 | Steen Christensen | 594.31 | 5 |
| 45 | FRA | 8 | Timothée Petetin | 590.37 | 6 |
| 46 | SWE | 139 | Hans Börjesson | 588.86 | 7 |
| 47 | SWE | 386 | Mikael Björndal | 577.22 | 3 |
| 48 | SWE | 72 | Benjemin Hammerö | 5698 | 6 |
| 49 | DEN | 1577 | Jørgen Holm | 559.15 | 8 |
| 50 | AUS | 729 | André Blassé | 551.19 | 4 |
| 51 | GBR | 17 | David Bourne | 550.98 | 4 |
| 52 | SWE | 722 | Stefan Jaenson | 543.50 | 6 |
| 53 | GER | 11 | Rainer Pospiech | 540.48 | 8 |
| 54 | SWE | 14 | Häken Soderberg | 525.64 | 8 |
| 55 | POL | 17 | Jaroslaw Radzki | 516.16 | 8 |
| 56 | GER | 852 | Michael Nissen | 505.98 | 10 |
| 57 | GBR | 2279 | Matthew Howard | 494.25 | 2 |
| 58 | GER | 81 | Jan‑Dietmar Dellas | 473.75 | 13 |
| 59 | GER | 18 | Jan Kurfeld | 466.77 | 4 |
| 60 | GBR | 2185 | Thomas Southwell | 465.86 | 7 |
| 61 | GBR | 2264 | Jim Hunt | 461.58 | 3 |
| 62 | SWE | 2908 | Laban Sorén | 456.80 | 5 |
| 63 | AUS | 4 | Peter Robinson | 446.50 | 6 |
| 64 | GBR | 999 | Simon Davis | 444.68 | 6 |
| 65 | FRA | 86 | Patrick Debaere | 440.96 | 8 |
| 66 | GBR | 2252 | Tony Woods | 440.71 | 5 |
| 67 | GER | 78 | Stefan Haage | 439.27 | 9 |
| 68 | DEN | 76 | Thomas Gabs | 435.59 | 4 |
| 69 | DEN | 1497 | Michael Dinesen | 433.35 | 4 |
| 70 | NED | 27 | Stephan Veldman | 430.28 | 8 |
| 71 | GER | 22 | Dirk Gericke | 428.47 | 5 |
| 72 | GER | 71 | Sebastian Kaule | 427.83 | 4 |
| 73 | GER | 72 | Oliver Gronholz | 425.96 | 7 |
| 74 | GBR | 8 | Richard Burton | 423.77 | 3 |
| 75 | SWE | 436 | Johan Astradsson | 420.71 | 4 |
| 76 | IRL | 10 | Tim Goodbody | 409.68 | 3 |
| 77 | AUS | 773 | Dave Ketteridge | 408.70 | 4 |
| 78 | DEN | 25 | Søren Sigurdsson | 405.59 | 6 |
| 79 | SWE | 99 | Hans Elkjaer | 405.11 | 7 |
| 80 | AUS | 694 | Gary McLennan | 404.56 | 4 |
| 81 | DEN | 1598 | Lars Espersen | 401 | 3 |
| 82 | AUS | 811 | David Meehan | 398.61 | 3 |
| 83 | POL | 7 | Marek Bernat | 396.98 | 6 |
| 84 | ESP | 77 | Mark Branagh | 396.42 | 3 |
| 85 | GER | 98 | Johannes Janhsen | 392.83 | 5 |
| 86 | GBR | 44 | Chris Turner | 392.48 | 2 |
| 87 | GBR | 2221 | Andy Dalby | 389.39 | 5 |
| 88 | GBR | 8 | Tom Lonsdale | 389.22 | 3 |
| 89 | GBR | 13 | Alex Scoles | 387.90 | 3 |
| 90 | SWE | 101 | Pontus Gabel | 386.10 | 7 |
| 91 | GBR | 2104 | Charlie Maunder | 383.61 | 3 |
| 92 | GER | 73 | Thomas Glas | 382.41 | 4 |
| 93 | GER | 79 | Frank Strelow | 381.28 | 7 |
| 94 | GBR | 28 | Anthony Osman | 379.84 | 2 |
| 95 | GER | 66 | Christian Kirchner | 376.41 | 10 |
| 96 | GBR | 2245 | Henry Wetherall | 375 | 1 |
| 97 | GBR | 92 | Sam Thomson | 372.31 | 4 |
| 98 | BEL | 236 | Frédéric Geboers | 366.25 | 6 |
| 99 | POL | 13 | Tomasz Flisiak | 365.18 | 4 |
| 100 | GBR | 2261 | Andrew Mill | 364.86 | 1 |
