AWESOME Lara Vadlau and Eva Maria Schimak make the Impossible Possible! Only 20 teams from 20 countries push towards the Olympic starting line on July 30 in the 470er Ladies Class. As the host, England was set from the start, which meant that 19 tickets were left for the rest of the sailing world to get into the ring. A bare-knuckle qualifier was the logical consequence, and the national expectations were comparably low. Experience tends to count as the clincher in the complex sport of sailing, and usually it takes about 4-6 years of prep time to be able to sail with the world's best. With that in mind, Lara Vadlau (18) and Eva Maria Schimak (24), who have only shared a cockpit for about 15 months, traveled to the World Championship in Barcelona as the blatant underdogs.

With the fight for the title and the last five national places distributed, the race for the London spot choice literally came down to the last few meters. The home duo had to take the wind out of the sails from the competition from Croatia or Russia in order to make their Olympic dream come true. The finish became a question of nerve and ended happily for the red-white-red team. The considerably higher ranked Russians were beat pretty badly in the Inflight. Lara Vadlau, Youth Olympic medalist and Youth World Champion 2011, secured together with her sheethand the last national place and fulfilled with this success her international qualifications criteria. With that, the pair celebrates their Olympic premiere and achieved with that their already biggest success in their combined and still young 470er carrier. ALWAYS AT THE READY Thomas Zajac and Thomas Czajka had lost in their Olympic qualifier against Nico Della Karth and Niko Resch as expected. The performance of the 49er Aces was nevertheless strong enough to be nominated as replacement crew for the games. Currently the two Tommies, as well as Vadlau and Schimak, are in Weymouth, where in the scope of the Skandia Sail for the Gold Regatta will be tested a last time for the upcoming serious events.

Top