Kieler Woche Day 10: Seven nations celebrate victories at the finale
by Kieler Woche 29 Jun 15:29 UTC
21-29 June 2025
The Kieler Woche final was also a lively pleasure for the Nacra17 winners Tim Mourniac/Aloise Retornaz from France © Sascha Klahn / Kieler Woche
On the final sailing day of Kieler Woche 2025, there were beaming faces all around the Olympic Centre in Schilksee. Eleven decisions were made on Sunday, June 29, and alongside Germany, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Malta, Sweden, and Hungary were able to celebrate victories.
Early in the morning, weather expert Dr. Meeno Schrader was already beaming as he looked out over the harbor area of Schilksee. Being able to announce such perfect final weather — with sunshine and ideal wind — is a pleasure even for a long-time companion of Kieler Woche. From a light breeze during the hot first weekend, to strong winds with stormy gusts at the beginning of the week, and finally to "champagne sailing" in the finals, the Kiel Fjord offered a wide range of conditions. "You have to look far back to find such a varied Kieler Woche. We've experienced the full spectrum of weather," said Schrader.
This allowed the organizers to celebrate a grand finale. Participants from 65 nations were able to look back on eventful days and a high-caliber, multifaceted regatta. Despite sometimes challenging sailing conditions at both the lower and upper wind limits, more than 90 percent of the scheduled races were completed across 29 classes. A total of 354 races were sailed.
"The concept of a second area for the surfing disciplines on the eastern shore of the fjord has worked out perfectly," said event director Dirk Ramhorst with satisfaction. The Olympic iQFOiL class and the wingfoilers were full of praise for their new home base in Stein. Lena Erdil, who coordinated the eastern side of the Kiel Fjord, is confident that the spot will continue to develop in the coming years. "This was a great start this year, and word will surely spread. If the class schedules align, we hope to see growing fleets," said Erdil.
In Schilksee, the Olympic disciplines crowned their medalists. Many fans followed the Medal Races live on KielerWoche.TV. Around 100,000 enthusiastic visitors came to the race village in Schilksee during the week. Looking ahead to a potential Olympic bid for 2036, 2040, or 2044, event director Dirk Ramhorst summed up what many athletes had confirmed to him: "Kiel is Olympic-ready!"
This enthusiasm for the venue and the organization was echoed across the classes and participants. "It's great to see that Kieler Woche puts on such a fantastic show for the athletes who travel here," said Anna Markfort, newly crowned 470 vice world champion, who joined Kieler Woche as a TV expert to comment on the races of her 470 competitors. Due to other commitments of her helmsman Simon Diesch, she couldn't compete in her home event and instead contributed her expertise as a commentator.
Warm congratulations were extended to the British Kieler Woche winners Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris. "We're looking forward to spending the summer with them, as we've arranged joint training sessions in England." The British team, who placed third at the World Championships, celebrated a convincing Kieler Woche victory by winning the final Medal Race, ahead of reigning world champions Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Marta Cardona Alcantara (Spain) and Diego Costa/Carolina Joao (Portugal).
"We're really happy to be here. It's one of the best events in the world, a top-level competition, well organized. And you have to be a very good sailor to succeed here. That's exactly what makes it so cool," said the Spanish world champion team Hernandez/Alcantara.
In the second Olympic mixed class sailed during the second half of Kieler Woche, France celebrated victory. Tim Mourniac and Aloise Retornaz successfully defended their lead in the Nacra 17 catamaran in a thrilling finale, ahead of John Gimson/Anna Burnet (Great Britain) and Brin Liddell/Rhiannan Brown (Australia).
There was great satisfaction especially among the international classes. During the second half of Kieler Woche, they were treated to excellent conditions, with strong winds that particularly challenged the athleticism of the sailors.
For around three decades now, German sailor Heiko Kröger has always been in top form and a strong contender for victory. The multi-talented sailor, Paralympic champion of 2000, has not only remained loyal to his main class, the inclusive 2.4mR, but has also discovered other classes for himself. This time, he had to decide what he wanted to sail. "Unfortunately, the OK dinghies and the 2.4mR were scheduled at the same time. I would have loved to sail both classes. The OK dinghy is a great boat, but I still need to get used to it," said Kröger, who chose to sail the 2.4mR.
With success! A series of first and second places earned him his 15th Kieler Woche victory. Even before the final day, he radiated happiness and satisfaction: "We had great races. The wind and the courses were good, and we had minimal waiting times between races. Everything went smoothly."
He also addressed the criticism voiced earlier in the week by others: "Even if some of the frustration over canceled races is understandable, we shouldn't blow things out of proportion. The conditions were far from ordinary. What's important is to learn from it — and that's exactly what happens at Kieler Woche." Kröger ultimately won ahead of Christoph Trömer (Plau) and Frank Huth (Norway).
A high-caliber international field lined up in the OK dinghy class. The fleet of 50 participants featured the world's elite - with a fierce duel between Swedish Kieler Woche title defender Niklas Edler and three-time world champion André Budzien from Germany. Edler entered the final day with a small points cushion but had to fend off strong attacks from the sailor from Germany. Before the final race, Budzien was just one point behind, but the Swede countered and secured Kieler Woche gold with another top result. "This was a very good test for the World Championship in September, because the world's top ten were here. If you're at the front at Kieler Woche, you can also be at the top at the Worlds," said Edler.
While the Swede will skip the European Championship at Warnemünder Woche, Budzien is fully focused on the major event in his home region. "I'm very satisfied with second place. It was a good test for the equipment, as I have a new boat. I still need to fine-tune the speed a bit, but overall, everything fits," he said. With two flawless wins on the final day, Canadian Baabii'O Flower climbed to third place at Kieler Woche.
In the Contender class, Christoph Homeier positioned himself as a strong German contender for the World Championship at Lake Garda at the end of July. Competing against the assembled world elite, he dominated the fleet and was able to afford two fifth-place finishes at the end while still securing a clear overall victory ahead of multiple European champion Jesper Armbrust (Denmark) and 2022 world champion Mark Bulka (Australia). "I probably made fewer mistakes than the others. So maybe I was a bit lucky," said Homeier modestly - also with a view to the Worlds, where he won silver two years ago: "A medal there would be great. Whether the title is possible? You can't plan for something like that. For now, I'm just happy about the Kieler Woche win. It was a lot of fun."
Perennial Kieler Woche winners Szabolcs Majthenyi/András Domokos from Hungary once again triumphed in the Flying Dutchman. "This must be our ninth or tenth win. We're not exactly sure. But it was probably the toughest: on three of the four days, we had really strong winds. Especially the penultimate day with four races was very exhausting," said helmsman Majthenyi. Together with his crew, he overcame a UFD-disqualification in the first race and still managed to take first place with six race wins.
The joy over the victory was great, as the 14-time world champions from Hungary were able to take revenge on Kilian König/Kai Schäfers. The German duo had won the World Championship for the first time this year and now finished second in Kiel. Third place went to Malte Burkert/Stephan Handick (Germany).
In the two keelboat and three youth classes of the second half of Kieler Woche, there were three German, one Danish, and one Maltese victory. Things were clear in the J/24 class for the Hamburg-based team led by Stefan Karsunke. The self-proclaimed "Heavy Boys," as their boat is named, didn't even need to compete in the final race to secure overall victory ahead of the teams led by Till Pomarius and Hauke Krüss (both from Hamburg).
Danish professional Sten Mohr was also in a class of his own in the J/70. Although he had to discard a disqualification, he made no mistakes in the remaining ten races. And that's exactly what set the Danes apart from their closest rivals, Kai-Uwe Hollweg in second place and Michael Grau (both from Germany) in third. Both had to count a mediocre result, which placed them behind Sten Mohr.
The performance of young Maltese sailor Timmy Vassallo in the ILCA 4 was impressive. He won eight out of ten races. At a considerable distance behind were Norway's Mats Silva Østvold and Sweden's Viktor Elfving.
German victories came in the ILCA 6 and 420 classes. Levian Büscher prevailed in the youth class of the Olympic ILCA against Brazilian Stefano Siebert Francavilla and Hungarian Benedek Héder. There was a double victory for Germany in the 420 class. Moritz Borowiak/Noel Jonas Theiner claimed their second Kiel win within three weeks after their success at the YES Regatta. They were followed by Jacob Cross/Finn Weigt (Germany) and Filip Nosol/Filip Marjanski (Poland).
Full results available here.