Marcus Lynch: Sailing head coach disembarks in the final Olympic sprint

Olympic sailing

Germany’s head coach disembarks in the final sprint of the Olympics

As of: 4:40 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes

Helmsman Paul Kohlhoff and crew member Alica Stuhlemmer (r.) at Kiel Week 2023. Now they have lost their coach

Quelle: picture alliance/dpa

Germany’s top sailors are starting the new year without their head coach. After seven years of working with the German Sailing Team, Briton Marcus Lynch is moving to the USA on the Olympic finish line.

DSV head coach Marcus Lynch is moving to the US Sailing sailing association on the Olympic finish line. The Brit will take on the position of competitive sports director with a view to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

This means that the German Sailing Team of the German Sailing Association (DSV), which won three medals in Japan in 2021, is ringing in its final spurt towards Marseille 2024 without its Olympic Performance Manager. The Olympic bronze medalists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer from the Kiel Yacht Club are particularly affected. After seven years of working together, the catamaran crew is losing the individual coach with whom they won bronze in Japan and with whom they wanted to fight for precious metal again in 2024.

“More motivated than ever”

“The news about Marcus came as a shock to us on November 30th. We had an almost family relationship. The separation was unthinkable for us,” said helmsman Paul Kohlhoff, describing his first reaction. The man from Kiel now says combatively that his crew has “grown closer together and is more motivated than ever”. Regarding the search for a new coach, he said: “We have good options in the pipeline that we are examining.”

Untimely separation: Marcus Lynch

Quelle: picture alliance / picture alliance

DSV sports director Nadine Stegenwalner also sees her medal candidates in a good position: “The two of them are a strong team. These are not their first games. There will be solutions.” Regarding Lynch’s departure at a critical time, which was also “unexpected” for her, Stegenwalner said: “We worked well and happily together and didn’t expect that.”

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The association will “handle the separation professionally”. She does not see the performance of the German Sailing Team at risk. They have “taken good paths” and will continue on this path even without Marcus Lynch.