I'll Never Forget That Again

I'll Never Forget That Again
I'll Never Forget That Again

Video: I'll Never Forget That Again

Video: I'll Never Forget That Again
Video: A package from Mark Crilley. 2024, March
Anonim

This is how a top athlete wants to start the Olympic season: With four daily victories and a second and fourth place, Philipp Buhl took an impressive half-time lead at the Laser World Championships off Melbourne. The strong performance comes at the ideal time after the mixed 2019 season. "I'll never forget that," said the 30-year-old from Sonthofen on Thursday. Series like his current one are very rare in the densely populated world class of the laser class, in which 130 boats from 44 nations fight for titles, medals and their Olympic qualifications.

Laser World Championship 2020
Laser World Championship 2020

Philipp Buhl in action in front of Melbourne: On Thursday the Allgäu-Express achieved another victory of the day, followed by a second place

Buhl knows that the cards will be reshuffled with the start of the main round on Friday, but has been able to refuel a lot of self-confidence in the past three days. The outstanding results on Thursday were achieved in a qualifying group made up of World Champion Tom Burton, Vice World Champion Matt Wearn, Olympic Champion Robert Scheidt and his training partners Hermann Tomasgaard and Jesper Stalheim. But Buhl remains a realist and says: "From tomorrow 15th places in the gold fleet can become valuable again." If all the top laser sailors gather in the leading group of the main round, day victories will be more difficult to achieve. In this final phase of the world title fights, Buhl takes "a nice extra boost" from the successful preliminary round. "I make no secret of the fact that I am happy today. It is nice to go into the main round with so few points on the table. But the road is still long." The wind forecast for the fourth day of the World Cup for the Olympic single-handed dinghy sailors is more shaky than on the previous days, before the pressure should increase again towards the weekend. Behind Buhl are the French Jean-Baptiste Bernaz and the Croatian Tonci Stipanoviç in second and third place.

WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17
WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17

The win of the day on Thursday evening was a pleasure for him: 49er helmsman Erik Heil

On the other side of the Australian World Championship area of Phillip Bay, Buhl's teammates in the German Sailing Team are putting pressure on the three Olympic disciplines of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacr17 at the world championship. The Berlin 49er runner-up world champions Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel from the NRV continue to sail within medal reach as fourth after fluctuating results, but also another race victory at the end of the day. Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme from the Kiel Yacht Club were able to improve significantly. The north German duo moved up to seventh place on Thursday as the best top ten team of the day after a total of ten races. The Austrians Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl took the lead in the 49er ahead of the New Zealand defending champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

What the official fourth day of the World Cup (but only the third day of the race) brought the teams …

Benjamin Bildstein / David Hussl
Benjamin Bildstein / David Hussl

The Austrians Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl lead the 49er World Championship field after ten races in front of the New Zealanders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke

WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17
WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17

Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme with sail number GER 59

WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17
WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17

Great study by Pedro Martinez: Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel in action

In the 49erFX, Vicky Jurczok and AnikLorenz defended their medal chances as fifth overall after nine races. The teammates and Olympic rivals TinLutz (Holzhausen) and substitute Vorschoterin LottWiemers (Kiel) slipped back to 14th place, but were able to finish the third day of sailing at the World Championships with a fourth place. The leaders in the 49erFX are British Charlotte Dobson and SaskiTidey, ahead of Spaniards TámarEchegoyen and PaulBarceló. In Nacr17, Paul Kohlhoff and AlicStuhlemmer from the Kieler Yacht Club will fight in eleventh place on Friday for a place in the medal finals of the ten best mixed catamaran crews on foils. All three medal races for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacr17 are scheduled for Saturday, while the laser sailors on the right side of Phillip Bay end their series without a medal race on Sunday.

WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17
WM 2020 49er, 49erFX, Nacr17

Vicky Jurczok and AnikLorenz are racing in the 49erFX

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