The traditional Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta has an illustrious name in sailing circles, with all Olympic classes competing off Mallorca, including the iQFoil windsurfers. For the German starters, the decision on who gets to go to the Olympic Games in Marseille will be made here. As a reminder: Sebastian Kördel and Theresa Steinlein have already secured a place on the national starting list for Germany, now it's all about who fulfils the internal qualification requirements of the German Sailing Association (DSV) and is nominated as a starter.
Kördel and Steinlein are unsurprisingly the top favourites to represent Germany in Olympic windsurfing. Kördel is a world champion in 2022 and runner-up in 2023, but missed the 2024 World Championships at the beginning of the year and "only" came sixth at the second event in Cadiz. Theresa Steinlein, on the other hand, improved over the course of the season and only just missed out on victory after finishing eleventh at the World Championships in Cadiz. In the battle for their Olympic ticket, both must now be placed among the top ten nations in the final ranking of all three qualifying regattas before Mallorca.
Kördel takes first victory in the slalom
Sebastian Kördel needed a bit of a run-up at the start before he could celebrate a victory in the fourth race. In the three course races at the start, he did not manage more than tenth, 17th and 13th place, and it was only when they switched to slalom in the fourth race that Kördel found his form and crossed the finish line in first place. He is now in 18th place in the intermediate rankings, while junior Max Körner is in 106th place. Freestyle legend Gollito Estredo, who wants to go to the Olympics for Venezuela and whose coach on Mallorca is Amado Vrieswijk, is also taking part. Pawel Tarnowski is in the lead for the time being.
Theresa Steinlein is in eleventh place after three course races, she had to abandon the last race, so she still has plenty of room for improvement. At the top of the women's rankings is Mina Mobekk from Norway, Sophia Meyer and Alisa Engelmann are close together in 37th and 39th place, Lena Haverland is 68th.
The final heats at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia are scheduled for Saturday, until then there are more heats on the programme!
