iQFOiL: First time as a coach at the World Championships - Three questions for Dennis Müller

Hi Dennis, you've had an eventful few weeks at the iQFOiL World Championships in Aarhus and the Junior World Championships in Brest. Who did you coach there?

In Aarhus, I was able to coach the German athlete Fabian Wolf privately. It was super exciting - my first World Championships as a coach. There were 200 participants from all over the world. I was delighted to meet up with many friends again, such as Sebastian Kornum, who I used to race with and who now coaches the Danish team. The conditions were difficult and the standard at the World Championships was of course extremely high. I wanted to give Fabi the best possible support mentally and on the water after he showed his great potential at Kiel Week and other events.
I then trained the Bavarian Sailing Association squad at the Junior World Championships in Brest. Emma and Moritz Schleicher and Matti Winkler did really well, which made me very happy. The competition was huge with 385 starters. It was great to see and motivates me as a coach to keep pushing forward in the iQFOiL area. You can tell that there's real momentum. The under-17s can actually all fly the tack - the level is insane.

You've mostly been seen on boats in your pictures recently. How many hours a day do you spend out there as a coach?

Many! It was particularly intense in Brest. Seven hours on the boat was no exception. The boys and girls were divided into U17 and U19 on two regatta courses, so there was a lot to keep track of.

What are your tasks?

From...to... It's a kind of all-round support: providing them with drinks and snacks on the water, collecting them and taking them to the start, mentally preparing them for the next race, giving them tactical tips and so on. My tasks on land also include team meetings, what can we expect in terms of weather and wind? Then equipment trimming and analysis of the video sequences - always with a focus on what can be optimised.