Nolot & Maeder win Europeans in high-wind crescendo

• Small kites required for strong winds gusting close to 30 knots 
• Some hard-fought Semi Finals in a tense Medal Series climax 
• Singapore’s Max Maeder wins men’s gold in a single race 
• Lauriane Nolot not the fastest, but smart sailing earns women’s gold for France 
• An exciting end to six days of high-speed competition in EUROSAF Academy 

Winds gusting close to 30 knots brought spectacular conditions for the climax of the 2024 Formula Kite European Championship in Mar Menor, Spain. Reigning World Champions Max Maeder and Lauriane Nolot respectively won the men’s and women’s European titles, but for the French woman she had to sail at her absolute best to beat her faster rivals. Jessie Kampman and Poema Newland pushed Nolot hard all week, the French dominating the top three of the leaderboard throughout the regatta. This was part of the French Olympic selection trials and it showed. The intensity of the racing between these three was something to behold, and it drove the French to a level that the rest of the female fleet just couldn’t match. Except perhaps for Elena Lengwiler. The Swiss rider could barely gybe a foiling kiteboard a year ago, but she has made enormous strides in her ability and at times was the fastest rider on the race track. Finishing in fourth place behind the French, and yet she has yet to qualify Switzerland for a place at the Olympic Games. That task will come at the ‘Last Chance’ Regatta in the South of France a month from now when Lengwiler will surely earn her place for Paris 2024.

In the men’s Medal Series, Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi and Bruno Lobo of Brazil fought their way out of the men’s semi-finals to go up against Axel Mazella and Max Maeder in the Final. But the 17-year-old from Singapore was just too good, Maeder needing only one race to win the title which he last held in 2022. Silver went to Mazella, an incredible result for the Frenchman only recently returned to kiting after a serious knee injury, and bronze to Pianosi.

It has been a barnstorming start to the Olympic kiteboarding season, and with the World Championships just a few weeks away, there are more thrills and spills to come between now and Paris 2024.

RESULTS WOMEN

RESULTS MEN

Fotocredit: IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: