The iQfoil International Games Youth & Junior 2022 started today in Campione del Garda, Italy, with 74 Under 19 sailors representing 16 nations. Germans, Turks and, of course, Italians, are the most participated fleets here. The new Olympic sailing board for Paris 2024, flies on foils and requires very different techniques than the previous Olympic boards, hence the great interest of the young and very young athletes to the new and upcoming class.

On the first day in Campione, the wind was rather light, so the Race Committee opted for the Slalom, raced downwind, which together with the Windward-Leeward Races and the Marathon, represent the three formats of the iQFOiL regatta.

An all-Italian provisional podium at the end of Day One in the U19 Men category after 4 races, with Federico Alan Pilloni first (5 points), followed by Manolo Modena (7) and Jacopo Gavioli (7). Among the U19 Women Sofia Renna (ITA) leads the ranking with three bullets and a second place, followed by Lina Erzen (SLO) with three seconds and a win, and a third place for Katerina Altmannova (CZE) at 10 points. Among the youngest, the U17s, who race with both men and women in the same group, Croatian Ian Anic is the provisional leader with three wins, the Italian Mattia Saoncella is second with one first and two thirds and Robin Sijan Zico Zeley (SUI) closes the podium with four points.

Tomorrow the first warning signal is set for 12pm. A stronger wind will allow the first upwind-downwind races of the 2022 iQfoil International Games Youth & Junior in Campione Univela.