Kieler Woche - Day 8
by Andy Rice 24 Jun 2017 19:49 BST
17-25 June 2017
Victory in the Finns at Kiel Week looks set to come down to a duel between Sweden's Max Salminen and Estonia's Deniss Karpak. After winning the final race on a breezy afternoon, Salminen sits at the top of the leaderboard on equal points with his rival.
The Medal Races on Sunday are set to take place in strong westerly winds, so those who enjoyed today will be looking forward to similar conditions to decide the medals in the Olympic classes.
Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Zajac with new crew Barbara Matz hold the lead in the Nacra 17 catamaran. However, Jan Erichsen and Ann Kristin Wedemeyer have been pushing the Austrians hard, and the young Germans still have a shot at gold on the final day. "We're really pleased to be this close to the Austrians because they are one of the best in the world," said Erichsen. "We haven't practised much in recent times but we'll go out tomorrow and do our best. This is the last time there'll be a major race in the Nacra 17 before it goes to full foiling, so we'll make the most of it." Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey go into the Medal Race with a seven-point advantage over the Olympic silver medallists from New Zealand, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, with the Brits showing great speed in the stronger winds.
Australians duo David Gilmour and Joel Turner have pretty much wrapped up the 49er gold medal as they go into the Medal Race with a 20-point buffer over the Polish team of Lukasz Przybytek and Pawel Kołodziński.
In the Men's 470, multiple world and Olympic medallists Mat Belcher and Will Ryan hold an 18-point advantage and so the Russian and German teams tied for 2nd will be much more concerned about the battle for silver and bronze. However there are many teams that could still fight their way on to the podium including two Japanese crews.
The battle for Women's 470 gold looks most likely to be between first placed Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Irmina Gliszczynska from Poland and Frederike Loewe and Anna Markfort. However, Australia's Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan are well placed to pounce on any mistake by the top two.
In the Laser Radial, Silvia Zennaro of Italy looks unstoppable in the strong wind, and sits on a 15 point advantage over Turkey's Nazli Donertas. In the Laser Standard fleet, Philipp Buhl of Germany continues to enjoy the strong winds and has now closed the gap to just four points behind series leader, Estonia's Karl Martin Rammo. Norway's Hermann Tomasgaard and Italy's Francesco Marrai are also in close contention for the medals.
Tune in on Sunday at 9.45am local time to watch the Medal Races live on kielerwoche.tv
For all the news, results, video highlights and photos, go to www.kieler-woche.de