Kieler Woche Day 7: British mixed dominance in dinghy and catamaran

The performance of Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris on the first two 470 days of Kieler Woche, the third event in the five-part Sailing Grand Slam, was impeccable © Christian Beeck / Kieler Woche

The strongest mixed sailing crews at Kieler Woche so far come from Great Britain. After the second day of the Sailing Grand Slam in the Olympic mixed classes, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris are leading the 470 class even more dominantly than John Gimson and Anna Burnet in the Nacra 17 on Thursday (June 26).

German hopes currently rest on Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr in the dinghy, who are just two points off the podium and lying in wait.

After a low-pressure system passed through earlier in the week, bringing in partly stormy conditions, the sailors had to prove themselves in a light easterly breeze. The outstanding 470 duo from England seemed to handle this just as well as the fresh to strong winds of the previous day. Four flawless race wins are on their record. "The clean sheet always looks easier on paper than it was on the water," said the helmsman, not wanting to appear unbeatable.

Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr were the best Germans in the 470 and moved up to fourth place at Kiel Week - photo © Christian Beeck / Kieler Woche

Nevertheless, Theresa Löffler praised him highly: "The Brits are sailing extremely cleanly and flawlessly on the course." She was also satisfied with her own performance, especially since the start (11th and 6th place) "was quite a struggle." A third and fourth place are "a good starting position for the podium, which is our Kieler Woche goal." Behind the leaders are two Portuguese teams: Beatriz Gago/Rudolfo Pires and Diogo Costa/Carolina Joao. Surprisingly, the newly crowned world champions Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Marta Cardona Alcántara are only in seventh place, just ahead of Germans Malte Winkel and Paula Schütze.

Strong performance by Brits Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris in the Nacra 17 cat at Kieler Woche - photo © Christian Beeck / Kieler Woche

As expected, Olympic silver medalists John Gimson and Anna Burnet are mostly foiling at the front of the Nacra 17 fleet. But four out of six possible race wins give them only a three-point lead over the French team of Tim Mourniac and Aloise Retornaz. Both top teams have already pulled away slightly from the Australian chasers. Brin Liddell/Rhiannan Brown are in third place ahead of Ruben Booth and Rita Booth Ferrando.

Heiko Kröger set an exclamation mark with first, second and first place at the start of Kiel Week in the 2.4mR - photo © Sascha Klahn / Kieler Woche

On Wednesday afternoon, nine international boat classes began the second part of Kieler Woche. Serial winner Heiko Kröger immediately set his sights on his 15th Kieler Woche gold with a race win at the start. However, Christoph Trömer (both from Germany) countered and drew level. In the OK dinghy, Germany's André Budzien also scored a bullet right away but was overtaken by Sweden's Niklas Edler after the second race. His compatriot Viktor Elfving shone at the start of the ILCA 4.

In the open ILCA 6 class, participants who had already performed well in the men's world championship in the first part of the week scored points. The first group race wins went to Benedek Héder from Hungary and Weka Bhanubandh from Thailand. The first overall lead in the internationally diverse and strong Contender class was taken by Mark Bulka from Australia, ahead of the tied Antonio Lambertini (Italy) and Christoph Homeier (Germany).

Full results here