Kahena Kunze, two-time Olympic champion in the 49erFX class alongside Martine Grael, is having a challenging time. Without losing sight of the search for a place in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, the Brazilian was in the United States, last month, to compete in the first stage of the SailGP, one of the most prestigious boat competitions in the world.
From Saturday (8), the focus is already another. The athletes in the Paris Olympic Games sailing test event will compete in Marseille, France, on the same Olympic course in which they will be challenged to try to win a third championship next year. The next SailGP stop will take place on the 22nd and 23rd of July.
Kahina confirmed.
And the sailor, whose family name bears the German ancestry of her father, world champion Claudio Conzi, sees the big boat experience as an opportunity for enrichment.
During her visit to the US, she played the role of German SailGP team strategist for the German catamaran, the F50 catamaran, in partnership with Germany’s Erik Heil, the 2016 Rio bronze medalist, and other sailing beasts.
“It was tough! But I loved feeling the forces of nature during every maneuver. It was epic. It’s so much easier to take on a new challenge when you’re sailing with people who know the boat so well. They gave me a lot of advice, like when to give information to Eric. I think these are Experiments are always valid and I have a lot to gain from the Olympic campaign at 49erFX.
The Brazilian had to overcome challenging conditions, including wind gusts of 37 km/h. And in Chicago, the New Zealand team won, which beat boats from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States, as well as Germany.
