iQFoil

Spain’s Nicole Van Der Velden had a fantastic last day, snatching first place from Britain’s Islay Watson who dominated the opening races, with Italy’s Marta Maggetti taking Silver. Pilar Lamadrid made the final 10 but an OCS stopped her chance of a medal.

It is demonstrated that the women of the Spanish pre-Olympic team will set the bar very high in Paris 2024. The men’s category was dominated throughout by the Netherlands, with Huig Jan Tak leading the classification

The iQFoil final starts strong, with a squall that left the wind very unstable, with gusts of between 3 and 12 knots, but that have been able to take advantage of the Spanish, giving advantage especially to Nicole Van Der Velden, moved from fourth to second place in the overall standings during the first race course. From then on, the Santander-based Spaniard dominated the whole day, but surprisingly the battle in the finals was not against Britain’s Islay Watson, but against Italy’s Marta Maggetti, who finally took second place.

With North easterly offshore wind, two races could be completed, to give the 6 required to progress to the medal races. Both Nicole Van Der Velden and Pilar Lamadrid of the Spanish team made the cut for the top 10.

It seems that this type of racing also allowed Pilar Lamadrid to stay in the top 10 from the start, but a disqualification for being over the line in the first finals. Today She entered 5th in the medal with all or nothing.. But the Andalusian is already looking to the future, “for the next one, which will be at home at the end of February”, exclaimed Lamadrid.

In the men’s fleet, the Dutch Huig Jan Tak was unstoppable, getting 4 wins out of the 6 races held in Marina Rubicon. Also yesterday, the Dutch sailor showed his dominance on the Lanzarote race course, with 3 victories out of the 4 slalom races held. The British Matthew Barton managed to snatch second place from the Israeli Yoav Omer, but it was his teammate Tomer Vardimon who finally took second place, followed by the Italian Nicolò Renna. On the other hand, this racing mode seems not to have favored the Canary Islander Angel Granda, who has not managed to stay in the top 10 to compete in the medal race.

Tuesday saw the awards ceremony for the iQFoil foiling boards. Next up at the Lanzarote International Regatta is not over yet, since, starting this Wednesday, we will see other Olympic sailing classes compete: ILCA 7, 49er and 49er FX

iQFoil rankings: (top ten)

Female category

1. Nicole VAN DER VELDEN (ESP)
2. Marta MAGGETTI (ITA)
3. Islay WATSON GBR
4. Palma CARGO (CRO)
5. Lucie BELBEOCH (FRA)
6. Lilian DE GEUS (NED)
7. Manon PIANAZZA (FRA)
8. Lola SORIN (FRA)
9. Maja DZIARNOWSKA (POL)
10. Pilar LAMADRID TRUEBA (ESP)

Male category

1. Huig JAN TAK (NED)
2. Tomer VARDIMON (ISR)
3. Nicolò RENNA (ITA)
4. Andy BROWN (GBR)
5. Matthew BARTON (GBR)
6. Yoav OMER (ISR)
7. Maciek RUTKOWSKI (POL)
8. Thomas GOYARD (FRA)
9. Sil HOEKSTRA (NED)
10. Pierre LE COQ (FRA)