Sailing World Championship: Kördel and Steinlein secure further victories - Olympic tickets within reach
After a long wait, Sebastian Kördel was still in action late on Wednesday evening at the Sailing World Championships in the Olympic classes and took another victory in his group. The reigning iQFoil world champion is therefore still in third place and well on course. Luuc Van Opzeeland and Nicolo Renna have swapped places ahead of him, with the Italian now leading the standings after nine races. Fabian Wolf took his 33rd place in the only race of the day as a stringer and is now in 30th place. Jonne Heimann, the third German starter in the world championship area off Scheveningen, is in 66th place.
Theresa Steinlein has taken a visible step forward in the women's iQFoil, where German windsurfers have been struggling to catch up with the world's best since their inclusion in the Olympic programme. The 21-year-old from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein has already won two days in her group at the World Championships and was in eleventh place shortly after the halfway point of her World Championship series on Wednesday evening. She could have gone even higher, but in the last two races Steinlein only finished 29th and 25th. Alisa Engelmann is currently the second-best German in 46th place, Lena Erdil is 50th and Helena Wanser is 68th. Emma Wilson from Great Britain is still in the lead ahead of China's Zheng Yan and Shahar Tibi from Israel.
How the Olympic qualification runs in iQFoil
As is well known, the first tickets for the 2024 Olympics will be awarded in The Hague. According to the German Sailing Association (DSV), the first eleven places in the iQFoil at the World Championships guarantee an Olympic starting place for the respective nation. So if Sebastian Kördel and Theresa Steinlein remain as strong as they have been so far, Germany has secured its two starting places. Otherwise there will be further opportunities to qualify later.
Which racer will then be allowed to compete with the German flag in the Olympic sailing area of Marseille will be determined in two steps. Firstly, three regattas in the 2024 iQFoil must score points for an internal DSV ranking list. These are the World Championship on Lanzarote, the traditional Princess Sofia Trophy regatta on Mallorca and a third, as yet undetermined event. Based on this ranking, the DSV will then make a recommendation to the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), which will then officially nominate the participants. So if, for example, Sebastian Kördel finishes in the top 11 at the current World Championships, Germany can definitely send a starter to the Olympics. Whether this will be Kördel himself will only be determined next year.
