Imagine this happening at next year's Olympic Games: the windsurfers compete in the final, but it is cancelled in two stages. That's what happened on Sunday, the last day of the Olympic test regatta off Marseille. Firstly, iQFoil world champion Sebastian Kördel had catapulted himself into the final in spectacular fashion with two irresistible victories in the quarter and semi-final races. There he was to meet the already seeded main round winner Nicolas Goyard and the semi-final runner-up Nicolo Renna from Italy. And then this happened...
Final cancelled after three early starts!
The Italian was too early in the first start attempt under the black flag - his out. Kördel and Goyard were left for a champions' duel for gold at this dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympic Games. Once again, the start took place under a black flag. This time, however, both athletes crossed the start line too early. This completely cancelled the final. After some back and forth on the water, the finalists initially surfed towards the harbour, were then called back again and finally sent home without having achieved anything.
The "test gold" ultimately went to Nicolas Goyard, who had won the main round and thus made his team France the most successful sailing nation in the Bay of Marseille with its fourth victory this week. Sebastian Kördel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein took silver and took the oddity in his stride: "My early start was very close. It was just a shame, because we both would have loved to have had the duel between world champion and world champion! The conditions were brilliant with winds of up to 14 knots and few waves. That was champagne sailing!"
Sharon Kantor wins the iQFoil women's competition
Kördel had experienced ups and downs in the heats: after a false start right at the beginning, he fought his way forwards in the subsequent heats and took several second places and one victory. However, he also finished 12th, 13th and 18th in the end. Kördel therefore went into the Medal Races in fourth place - "the hardest place", as he wrote on Instagram.
Sharon Kantor from Israel won the women's event ahead of Emma Wilson from Great Britain and Sara Wennekes from the Netherlands. Kantor had already dominated the European Championships in Greece, but only finished the medal race there in second place. In Marseille, she again went into the final race in the lead, but left nothing to chance and drove home the victory. There were no German starters at the Pre-Olympics. In competition with a total of 341 sailors, the German Sailing Team presented a good picture and, according to the unanimous statements of many of the athletes, benefited from a very well-prepared environment and a lot of team spirit in the crew.
