ILCA European Cup final: overall victory in ILCA 6 for Hannah Anderssohn

Hannah Anderssohn won the ILCA Europa Cup in ILCA 6. The Warnemünder finished the only race on the fourth and final day of the Europa Cup with a second place. In the four previous strong wind races she had achieved 3rd, 4th, 1st and 1st place. Fourth place on the second day became their elimination result. After the award ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, she said: “There is nothing better than winning on your home turf. It went really well over the four days and I got into it better and better.” She had words of praise for the organization and the race committee: “Everything was very well organized on land and on the water. Everything went smoothly and we were able to sail on all days despite the weather situation.” Anderssohn and the other sailors in the national squad now have a week-long training course in Warnemünde. “After that, I’ll spend the next month and a half preparing for the World Cup in Holland in August.” The nations’ places for the 2024 Olympic Games will be awarded at the World Cup in The Hague.

Ukraine's Sofiia Naumenko won the silver medal. The 24-year-old had worked her way up little by little over the four days of competition and started the final day in third place overall. With a win in the last race, she won the competition for second place. The 2022 overall European Cup winner, who sailed as a crew member on a leg of The Ocean Race on board “Ambersail 2” earlier this year, said: “Zur Warnemünder Woche Being invited is always like coming home. This is not only due to the great sailing area, which demands everything from you when there is calm and wind, but also because of the warmth on land and on the water.”

Pia Kuhlmann, the three-time German champion in the ILCA 6, who competes for the Schaumburg-Lippischen Sailing Club, was also able to improve by one place on the last day and is third overall.

Wiktoria Golebiowska from Poland slipped to fourth place after finishing eighth in the final race, having been second in the last two days of the European Cup.

Uffe Tomasgaard won the European Cup in class ILCA 7 with great dominance. The Norwegian won five of six races. Only his compatriot Theodor Middelthon was anywhere near within reach. He finished second, four points behind Tomasgaard. Nico Naujock from the DSV squad came third. Naujock, who sails for the Segerhaus am Wannsee club from Berlin, pushed the Frenchman Theo Peyre into fourth place on the last day of the regatta.

In the ILCA 4 class, Weka Bhanubandh won. The 2022 World Champion Optimist is sailing his first season in ILCA 4. The class, which many use as preparation for the transition to ILCA 6 and 7, has only completed three races in total due to weather conditions, of which Bhanubandh won two. Second went to class newcomer Levian Büscher from Duisburg, who came third last year at the Joint International German Youth Championship of all youth boat classes in Kiel and was therefore the best German in the field of 269 optimists.

Sports director Peter Ramcke said after the conclusion of the European Cup: “It hasn't been easy for the race committee over the last few days, but we were able to start at least one race every day despite the strong wind. It was very demanding, but it was fun.” He had a lot of praise for Svenja Herziger and her team, who were in charge of the race at the ILCAs: “Svenja showed a fantastic performance, which was confirmed to me by many participants. Thank you very much for that!”