One and done for the boys 

Local Italian Riccardo Pianosi and Brazilian Lucas Fonseca won the one race that they needed to win and progressed to the final, where Maeder sealed the deal, with China’s Qibin Huang getting silver and Youth European Champion Pianosi winning the bronze medal. After a sensational performance all week, promising young talent, Brazilian Lucas Fonseca reflects “it was an event that me and my coach have learnt a lot from! I learned that you can be super consistent for the whole week, but what really matters is the semi-finals and the finals. Sometimes it's really good to try and do different things around the racecourse, because, as I found out, they work! I tried a different tactic than everybody in the final and I managed to get to the top mark in first, unfortunately I crashed on the downwind... but I think that's what happened when you are pushing 2000%. I'm really happy with my evolution since last year and with my result in this event. I'll keep training super hard because the thing that I love to do the most is kiting and let's see what we can do in the next Youth Worlds or even maybe a spot in the Olympics!" improving last years result from 28th to 4th, the Brazilian is one of the fastest progressing riders in the whole fleet.

Qibin Huang is no stranger to battling with Max Maeder and his excitement was palpable heading into the final race, "This was the race I had been waiting all week for! I spent all evening watching Denis Taradin's races here last year, analyzing his strategy. I managed to execute everything I wanted to in the beginning. But the Brazillian kid put a spanner in the works! I was expecting everyone to start on port, with me being the windward board able to tack first onto the layline… but the Brazillian really surprised me when he started on starboard! I managed to stick to my strategy for the whole race, but racing against Max meant it was a pure speed challenge and Max had the superior speed"

When asked how it feels to be the new U21 World Champion, Maeder remarked “some things you can't express in a couple of sentences, but I will say it is overwhelmingly positive! And more sweet is the fact that everyone has just upgraded their performance; it genuinely makes it such a high level race to be a part of. I was very very focused for the finals, what a race! It was so tight and so exciting, so a worthy race to be a final in the World Championship! The level of the riders is so insane, it has upgraded my a mile I must say!"

Too many bullets for the girls!

It was not as straight forward with the women, with plenty of racing for the young racers. It took three attempts for the French Youth European Champion Heloise Pegourie to get the one race win that she needed to progress to the final and eventually end up with the bronze medal, while in the other semi final after three races, Zoe Boutang from France had two race wins while the up-and-rising Catalina Truienzo from Argentina scored her first ever semi-final win. “After being sent back ashore due to the unstable wind, it finally picked up fast to 15m weather, I really love my 15m, I felt super comfortable with it today and I managed to do one bullet. Unfortunately we couldn’t finish the semifinals because it was 5pm and we needed to go back to the shore. It was an amazing experience and I’m super happy with my result but I think I can do better. Now I know my weaknesses and I’m super excited to start working on them. Congratulations for all the girls, they are doing soo good. And especially for Lysa the new youth world champion!” 

The depth of youth talent in the French team is extraordinary, with Zoé Boutang being the comeback queen of the girls fleet. She came into the day in 8th, but after two bullets, the young French rider couldn’t believe that she finished in 4th, “i’m so happy, it was the first time that I got bullets, which was so nice and so cool! I can’t wait for the next event to shred!”

Unfortunately, the always reliable Gizzeria sea breeze decided to take a break today, making it impossible to complete the women’s final, so Lysa Caval from France won her first major title without sailing on the final day. Caval wasn’t too upset about not having to race on the final day, "I feel great, I am really happy about my whole week, I am so proud!" she remarks on the shore as her teammates celebrated her success. 

Polish Magda Woyciechowska was less happy that she didn’t get the chance to fight for the top position meaning she had to settle with the silver. However the polish rider managed to put a positive spin on things reflecting on the week as a whole, "I think I've been doing pretty well the whole event, this competition showed me that I can do my best from the beginning and continue to do so for the whole week. I think I deserve the 2nd place and i'm really happy that I stayed consistently in the top three for the whole event. I wasn't so happy with the Youth Europeans and now I showed what I can do and we'll have to see what happens in The Hague!" 

It was a hot, action packed event, under the extreme heat that is hammering the south of Europe those days and the kids were on fire! There were new faces from all over the world and blazing performances. With such a strong level across the fleet, many of the riders cannot wait to see what they can do on the world stage, battling with the best in The Hague next month. 

Watch out world, a new generation of kitefoilers is coming!