IQFOIL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 1
The iQFoil class European Championships in Torbole, Italy have kicked off in Italy with four slaloms for men and women on the opening day of action.
Photos: ANDREA MOCHEN©
Here is the official event report: “The iQFoil European Championships, the new Olympic class for Paris 2024, have started in Torbole, on the Garda Trentino, Italy. Until Sunday they will be racing between slalom, course and marathon, the disciplines chosen from time to time according to wind conditions. In the morning at the Circolo Surf Torbole the regularisation of the registrations took place, which defined the final numbers at 155 males and 95 females, again representing 41 nations. On Garda Trentino today there was a light wind that reached a maximum of 10 knots, hence the decision to hold four slalom races for both categories. One of the merits of the new Olympic class is precisely that of racing in a light wind in the slalom, without renouncing the speed of foil flying, which the athletes are able to achieve in winds that would not be planing for other types of boards. Two race courses positioned with electric buoys, four men’s and two women’s batteries made for a series of rather fast slaloms.
Racing went on until late afternoon in the qualifying races dubbed ‘Opening Series Races’ on this first day of the best-attended iQFoil European Championship ever. With the first four slaloms the first discard has already entered: good signals from the Italian athletes, in particular from Circolo Surf Torbole’s Nicolò Renna, so far the best Italian, fifth overall.
There was no shortage of excellent early start disqualifications, even if they were discarded, such as for Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Kiran Badloe (currently eighth 3-3-1-BFD) and Frenchman Clément Bourgeois, who compensated well for the initial “BFD” with successive 3 firsts in the battery. The provisional ranking sees the Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland in the lead, who left no room for anyone in his heat, scoring 4 firsts.
This is followed by a French double with Tokyo silver medallist Nicolas Goyard (3-1-1) and Clèment Bourgeois (BFD-1-1), in that order. Fourth was Germany’s Sebastian Koederdel and in fifth the Italian and Circolo Surf Torbole’s Nicolò Renna, who immediately started racing in his home waters. Nicolò fell in the third race after two firsts, but recovered in the fourth and final race of the day, scoring a third.
The women’s category, competing with two batteries, also finished four slaloms: in the lead was the Israeli (u21!) Shahar Reshef, who after an eleventh placed placed placed three victories. Two points behind was Spain’s Lamadrid Trueba (1-13-1-1), second and in third place Poland’s Dziarnowska (1-5-3-1). Not an easy start for the Italians: Giorgia Speciale (15-15-11-11) and the ‘home queen’ Sofia Renna – Circolo Surf Torbole’s athlete (11-7-BFD-19) were 24th and 25th respectively. A disqualification at the start also for Marta Maggetti currently 29th (9-bfd-13-17).
Wednesday’s scheduled start is at 8:30 am with a northerly wind, with the aim of holding course races throughout the day and closing the qualifying phase as early as Wednesday.”
