Kieler Woche Day 3: A Tough Test for Athletes and Equipment
by Kieler Woche 24 Jun 08:08 NZST
21-29 June 2025
Fresh to strong southwesterly winds with stormy squalls pushed participants to their limits on Monday at Kieler Woche.
Despite numerous capsizes, the best of the best in the Sailing Grand Slam of Olympic disciplines proved they could master the opposite conditions after the light wind races of the previous two days. Physical endurance was also key in the ILCA 6 Men's World Championship, the 29er Eurocup, and the German Offshore Sailing Championship.
From a local perspective, the standout performance came from the 49erFX women's team of Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Hamburg), who placed ninth and second to remain the top team of the day. The European champions are just one point ahead of Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer from Bavaria, despite the latter having to forfeit a race. Katharina Schwachhofer and Elena Stoltze from Lake Constance are in third place.
The men's field of the iQFOiL Games at Kiel Week on a course race with Fabian Wolf from Kiel in the blue jersey. Photo: Sascha Klahn/Kieler Woche
While the 49er men were unable to race due to increasing winds by midday, the iQFOiL windsurfers thrived in the conditions off the eastern shore near Stein. Spray flew across the outer fjord, with Poland's Tomasz Romanowski still leading, now tied on points with Korea's Gunhak Choi. Kiel's Fabian Wolf said he "did a lot right, but had just as much bad luck with seaweed," which slowed him down. He remains just four points behind the leaders.
Young talent Sophia Meyer had a stellar day. The 20-year-old broke through the dominance of the top four French sailors in four races and is now only four points behind leader Marion Couturier. "I'm surprised myself how well it went, even though the conditions felt like a 'survival battle'," said the Kiel native, who is now on track for her goal. Meyer: "I definitely want to make the Kieler Woche podium - ideally the top spot."
The ILCA 7 competition remained firmly in Italian hands, with Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini leading ahead of Dimitri Peroni. Former world champion Philipp Buhl climbed onto the podium with two seventh-place finishes. However, the man of the day was Berlin's Justin Barth, who followed a race win with a fourth-place finish and is now sixth overall. "Everything came together - good starts, a solid read on the wind shifts under the clouds, and some lucky timing," said the 23-year-old, who is looking forward to Tuesday's media course and live broadcast on KielerWoche.TV.
Three strong-wind races repeatedly shook up the ILCA 6 standings. Despite discarding a poor result in the first race of the day, Australia's Elyse Ainsworth took the yellow jersey, just ahead of Denmark's Anna Munch and Hungary's Mari Erdi. The competition remains tight, making the medal race qualification for the top ten (Wednesday) wide open if similar conditions persist.
With two flawless wins in the blue qualification group, Italy's Alessandro Cirinei took the yellow jersey as overall leader in the ILCA 6 World Championship. "It was really tough out there, but I handled it well," said the new leader, who pushed Ukraine's Semen Khashchyna from first to third. Hungary's Benedek Héder remains second overall with a fifth and a second-place finish. The gap from the podium to the Canadian, Italian, and Danish chasers is already 13 and 15 points. Germany's Levian Büscher just made it into the top ten.
Previously dominant Norwegians Nicklas Holt and Philip Forslund lost ground in the 29er Eurocup due to the strong winds but held onto their overall lead ahead of the advancing Polish team of Szymon Kolka and Bartosz Zmudzinski. The strongest challengers now come from New Zealand: daily leaders Nelsen Meacham and Joe Leith (1st/3rd) are followed by William Leech and William Mason. The interim results promise an exciting final day for the podium.
Tuesday also marks the end of the inshore portion of the International German Offshore Sailing Championship. Danish professional helmsman Jesper Radich continues to dominate the ORC A/B class with the XR-41 "Formula X." Berlin's Jens Kuphal held onto second place overall with "Exciter" in the day's only race but will face strong competition from the identical "WB IX" from Italy and Denmark's "DIXI V" on the final day. "The position battles among the four of us are incredibly intense," said Radich, who lost at least one duel to the Italians the previous day. In ORC C/D, Sweden's Patrik Forsgren used a race win with "Garmin Team Pro4u" to tie on points and displace Torsten Bastiansen and his Flensburg-based "Sydbank" crew from the top spot.
Full results here