Germany holds own at Kiel Week

Kiel, Germany (June 24, 2018) – The final day of Kieler Woche brought plenty of drama amid the Olympic fleets as the top ten advanced to the final Medal Race.

A strong field of northern Europeans took the bulk of the medals, with Germany and Sweden collecting three along with Great Britain.

A total of 13 countries landed on the podium across the eight Olympic classes that were competing in Kiel Bay.

Kiel Week had attracted a record number of 1900 registered boats from about 60 nations seeking additional competition in advance of their World Championships to the north in Denmark on August 2-12.

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 (GER) 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 Jurišić.

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
While Riley Gibbs and Louisa Chafee (USA) won the Medal Race, John Gimson and Anna Burnet clung on to gold by the skin of their teeth as the Brits raced to 6th across the line. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) finished ahead in 3rd 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 (AUT) 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 for Denmark, 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 (NZL), the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists.

Canada, Mexico, USA update:
After a strong start for the North American contingent, which had them competing in the top ten in seven of the eight classes, they slowly slipped out of contention but still got tested in four of the final Medal Races.

Final Results (Top Ten)
470 M: 7. Stu McNay/ Dave Hughes (USA)
Finn: 7. Caleb Paine (USA)
Laser Radial: 7. Paige Railey (USA)
Nacra 17: 6. Riley Gibbs/ Louisa Chafee (USA)

Event details – Results – Facebook

Eight of the ten Olympic fleets (no boards) were racing from June 20 to 24. Here are the teams that competed from Canada, Mexico, and USA:

470 M (1): Stu McNay/ Dave Hughes (USA)
470 W (1): Kathleen Tocke/ Charlie Bess (USA)
49er (7): William Jones/ Evan DePaul (CAN), Ryan Wood/ Andrew Wood (CAN), Nevin Snow/ Max Agnese (USA), Judge Ryan/ Hans Henken (USA), Andrew Mollerus/ ? (USA), Ian Barrows/ Mitchell Kiss (USA), Chris Rast/ Trevor Burd (USA)
49erFX (3): Alexandra Ten Hove/ Nariah Millen (CAN), Stephanie Roble/ Margaret Shea (USA), Lucy Wilmot/ Nathan Houseberg (USA)
Finn (4): Tom Ramshaw (CAN), Kyle Martin (CAN), Caleb Paine (USA), Luke Muller (USA)
Laser (14): Norman Struthers (CAN), Luke Ruitenberg (CAN), Robert Juhasz (CAN), Hugh Macrae (CAN), Liam Bruce (CAN), Noah Collinson (CAN), Matti Muru (CAN), Forrest Wachholz (CAN), Robert Davis (CAN), Justin Norton (CAN), Fillah Karim (CAN), Yanic Gentry (MEX), Charlie Buckingham (USA), Darius Mienville (USA)
Laser Radial (3): Clara Gravely (CAN), Coralie Vittecoq (CAN), Paige Railey (USA)
Nacra 17 (3): Riley Gibbs/ Louisa Chafee (USA), Ravi Parent/ Christina Persson (USA), Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg (USA)

Source: Andy Rice