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Pilar Lamadrid reigns on the opening day of the Lanzarote iQFOil Games in Marina Rubicón

24/01/2023

Updated at 7:30 p.m.

First day of sailing of the Lanzarote iQFOil Games, a test that opens the 2023 season of what will be a new Olympic class in Paris 2024. Sunny day, with strong wind and Atlantic waves of between one and three meters that have allowed the completion of the four planned regattas for today. They have been very fast – in two and a half hours they had already completed them – and in a Windward-Leeward format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOAlDFdRdt0

The male windsurfer who has registered the highest speed during the tests has been the current world champion, the German Sebastian Kördel, with 30.2 knots (56 km/h), while the Galician Tomás Vieito has been the eighth fastest, with 29.2 knots (54 km/h). In the case of the girls, the British Alice Read has reached 25.8 knots (47.7 km/h).

Spain commands the female fleet

The 66 female participants sailed in a single fleet on the regatta course located in the Bocayna Strait, opposite the Marina Rubicón port.

The current number 1 in the world ranking, Pilar Lamadrid, starts strong in the Lanzarote iQFOil Games, winning three tests out of four with a notable advantage over her pursuers. The Andalusian sailed trying to catch the best streaks, choosing the most favored side of the field but without losing sight of the rest of the competitors, especially the Israeli squad, which completes the top 5 of the provisional general classification.

Lamadrid’s worst result today was a sixth, after in the third test he went into the water in the last stern when he was in fourth position. “You have to keep an eye on the entire fleet, you get a little confused and well, then you’re already in the fight, but I’m very happy with today. I am here to train, improve and of course also to enjoy it and here in Lanzarote that is always easy. It has been incredible that the east wind has entered, which was not foreseen. There are perfect sailing conditions here and I am very happy with the three victories today.” has declared.

Sharon Kantor, from Israel, took the cat into the water in that third test, while in the rest she crossed the finish line in second position. This good performance from her leaves her two points behind Lamadrid and 16 points ahead of her compatriot Katy Spychakov.

The British Sam Sills, unbeatable: four out of four

With more than 80 participants, the men’s category has sailed today divided into two fleets (yellow and blue) off Papagayo beach, south of the island of Lanzarote.

Unbeatable is Brit Sam Sills, double world champion as a junior windsurfer and consummate athlete of the former RS:X Olympic class. With four victories in the four regattas of the yellow fleet, he is the first men’s provisional leader of the Lanzarote iQFOil Games 2023.

Sills was exuberant upon his arrival on land: “It’s been a fantastic day, with incredible conditions: 15 knots, four tests, ‘Barlo-Sota’… I hope it’s the same tomorrow! Most of the time we had to bet on the left side of the field. It’s great to be racing with the fleet again.”

Training on the island of Lanzarote for seven weeks, Sills seems to have benefited from his preparation on the island alongside the rest of the British team: “Last year we were training very hard. This is such a new class and we have so many things to learn all the time! I am very lucky to have such a good team and to be here working together. We arrived in December and I love Lanzarote, I don’t want to go home!”, smile.

The Polish Pawel Tarnowski, silver in the last iQFOil event in 2022 -the Terceira iQFOil Games-, is provisional second after a 2-4-3-2 partial achieved competing in the blue fleet. The provisional men’s podium for this first day is closed by the Israeli Tom Reuveny.

Among the Spanish representatives, the best positioned is the Majorcan Nacho Baltasar, who occupies the third provisional place among the youth teams and 34th overall.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the competition will continue in Lanzarote with the dispute of the second day. Follow the action live on the YouTube of the iQFOil class.


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