One man's misfortune was another man's good fortune at the iQFoil World Championship off Lanzarote. While Sebastian Kördel surprisingly and permanently lost his way after a strong start, Theresa Steinlein secured her Olympic starting place in the women's iQFoil with the best World Championship result of her young career.
Botched season opener for a high-flyer
Sebastian Kördel has never had such a miserable World Championship result in iQFoil as he did this week. Now this has happened to him at the start of the year in which he wants to win a medal at the Olympic iQFoil premiere in the Bay of Marseille this summer: the 2022 World Champion and 2023 Vice World Champion finished the 2024 World Championships in 28th place.
Shortly after the World Cup final, the normally so confident Kördel still had no concrete answer to the question of why. He will try to find this answer together with his coach Dom Tidey after a short break. A period of rest before the World Championships that did not go according to plan, an illness that "knocked him out" of the iQGames, a lot of movement in his sporting environment, the early season timing of the World Championships and a number of other points could serve as pieces of the puzzle in the search for the answer.
I was reasonably healthy and I messed it up myself." Sebastian Kördel
"I think the management of my recovery phases played a role, but I don't want to cry about it. It just didn't work out at this World Championship. I was reasonably healthy and I messed it up myself. I simply struggled, was on the wrong side too often and wasn't there in terms of speed either," said Kördel in an initial, unsparing assessment of himself.
At the same time, Kördel knew: "I need a few days now. But I've got a good team around me and I'm confident that we can get my performance back on track." With the iQFoil Games (4 to 9 March) and the Majorca classic Trofeo Princesa Sofía (30 March to 6 April), the 33-year-old has two more elimination regattas left to secure his individual Olympic ticket and to personally fill the nation starting place for Germany's Olympic sailors that he himself has already secured for 2023.
iQFoil women: Olympic Nations Championship place secured for Germany
His 21-year-old team and club mate Theresa Steinlein is pursuing the same goal. The young iQFoil athlete, who only switched to the new Olympic windsurfing board three years ago, has now also secured an Olympic spot for Germany's female windsurfers with her 18th place at the World Championships.
Whether Theresa Steinlein, currently the best German iQFoil athlete, will be able to fill this national starting place herself depends, as with Sebastian Kördel, on her performance in the next two qualifying regattas. Basically, if you want to get your individual Olympic ticket for the start at the Olympic regatta in the Bay of Marseille (28 July to 8 August), you have to win through nationally and at the same time fulfil the criteria of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for the Olympic start.
The difficult path to an individual Olympic ticket
The path to an individual Olympic ticket is not easy: the candidates must be in the lead in the final ranking after three fixed elimination regattas in the national comparison. In addition, they must have achieved twelfth place or better at least once in one of the three regattas. And thirdly, they must be placed among the top ten nations in the international country comparison when all three elimination regatta results are added together.
Kördel and Steinlein, currently the leading athletes in their disciplines in Germany, will be battling it out. DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner still has every confidence in perennial favourite Sebastian Kördel despite his unsuccessful World Championships: "Sebastian is and remains a guarantor of performance, has regularly surfed onto the podium for years and has won major titles in a row. A weak series doesn't change the fact that he is one of the best in his discipline internationally and will show this again in the future."
I trained very intensively here for three months. It has really paid off." Theresa Steinlein
Commenting on Theresa Steinlein's performance, Nadine Stegenwalner said: "Theresa sailed a strong World Championship. The eighth place in the Nations Cup is secured - that's a great interim result for the German Sailing Team on course for Paris 2024." After her success on the way to the top, Theresa Steinlein herself points to several helpful factors, saying: "I trained very intensively here for three months. That has really paid off."
And this is despite the fact that Theresa Steinlein broke her wrist in September 2023. After successful treatment and rehab, she started the Olympic season stronger than before. "I got over the injury well. That and the short break really motivated me," says the twin sister of 49erFX helmswoman Sophie Steinlein.
I couldn't imagine a better coach." Theresa Steinlein
Theresa Steinlein also attributes her World Championship performance to the good cooperation with coach Daniel Slijk: "I couldn't imagine a better coach. He understands me and adapts our work very well to my needs." At 1.63 metres tall, the iQFoil windsurfer has also recently made good progress towards gaining more body weight. However, at around 62 kilograms, she still lacks some weight compared to the top female athletes. At the World Championships, she therefore had a 1300-calorie goodnight shake every day before going to sleep.
Theresa Steinlein's Olympic dream is alive. Determined but cautious, she says of the Olympic participation she has set her sights on: "I'm optimistic. First of all, I'm happy that I was able to secure a place for Germany in the national team. That was a big step. But I won't be happy until I've got my Olympic ticket in the bag."
World Championship gold goes to Italy and Israel
The world champion in the men's iQFoil off Lanzarote was the Italian Nicolo Renna, ahead of Pawel Tarnowski (Poland) and defending champion Luuc Van Opzeeland. Last year, Sebastian Kördel had a spectacularly exciting battle with the new champion and the bronze medallist for the World Championship medals in The Hague. Kördel wants to pick up where he left off as quickly as possible. Sharon Kantor from Israel became world champion in the women's event. Britain's Emma Wilson took silver ahead of Katy Spychakov (Israel).
Alisa Engelmann finished the World Championships in 50th place, Sophia Meyer was 64th and Fabian Wolf was 65th in the men's event, while Jonne Heimann was 96th.
