Formula Kite Youth Worlds, Maximilian Magic

On the last day of the opening series it was all about who's going into the Medal Series. Not a lot of drama in the front of the men's fleet, with Max Maeder form Singapore and Qibin Huang from China continuing their performance and sealing their place in the finals with two and one match points respectively.

"In Singaporean culture" says Maeder, "my bib number, 88 means 'luck' and man, did I get lucky today! I'm going to credit it to being ready, catching the right opportunity and a good dose of fortune". He describes his overtaking move on Riccardo as 'a little too close for comfort' and aims to keep things 'boring' in tomorrow's final.

"Five races was wonderful, especially the last race, I really gave it all to push Riccardo [Pianosi], but he's performing really good and stable on the upwind". After achieving his goal of 'playing it safe', Huang admits he decided to give it his all and see the best that he could do. "I started on port and he was in a really good starting position. I tried to catch him, and I did it on the first downwind leg, but he showed really good upwind angle and speed so there was no chance for me to overtake him. Then, because of our fight, we both didn't tack to cover Max [Maeder] and that gave him the chance to go to the other side of the course and win the last race"

It was a different story for the rest of the medal series tickets, with lots of ups and downs and fierce battles throughout. Impressive performances by Lucas Fonseca from Brazil and Italian Riccardo Pianosi, earning them pole position in the two semi finals. "Today I felt good. Unfortunately, in the first race I went to the wrong side and I ended up a little bit behind. Then on the second race I had a really good start and I was first but I was a bit unlucky and I hit a plastic bag! In the last three races I did nice and clean races but Max was a bit faster than me. Now it's time to rest and get ready for tomorrow."

It is the first time that Mattia Maini from the United Kingdom manages to qualify to the medal series, after several years of finishing in eleventh, and he couldn't hide his joy: "It was a really positive day for me, with loads of super tight racing. I managed some really good finishes. I crashed when I was in fourth but I managed to recover really fast and somehow managed to get a seventh in that race. It's unfortunate that some other people messed up their day, but I'm grateful that I've managed to move up into tenth place, which puts me in semi-final B "

The exact opposite scenario played out at the top of the women's fleet, where everything was open till the last race. An outstanding performance by Lysa Caval from France, gives her two match points going into the final, while early leader Magdalena Woyciechowska from Poland is relieved to go directly to the final with one match point. A glowing Caval admitted that she had a lot of fun on the water. "I am really happy about my results! I can't imagine a more beautiful day. I'm super happy to race with my 21m, it's my best kite"

After an up-and-down day, Woyciechowska looks forward to tomorrow, exclaiming that she likes the Medal Series format a lot and feels confident about the amount of practice she has put in. She has mixed feelings about the day, but realizes it's a good result. "It was really tough for me. I had a good race at the beginning and then two terrible races, I caught a plastic bag on the reach and crashed, so I was just not in a good mindset for that race and finished at the back. But then I pulled myself together and finished first and second. So a pretty good mixed day I would say"

Catalina Turienzo from Argentina was leading twice today and although she didn't keep the lead, her performance has been exceptional "It was good. Today I started pretty well, I was leading two races but unfortunately I made some mistakes that cost me the position, I finished second and third. Then the wind dropped a little and I didn't finish so well the second part of the day, but I am still very happy to have stayed in semifinals for tomorrow."

Mika Kafri, the young Israeli windsurfer, seems to improve fast in her new class, even though she didn't sail with ideal equipment: "It's been pretty complicated, I only have an 18m kite and the light wind was hard. I switched from the IQ foil not long ago and it's quite a change, I am still learning but for a second competition I'm happy with my result! I am looking forward for the competitions to come"

Maini, Turienzo and Kafri not only made it into the medal series but could even win a medal if they perform well tomorrow. The medal series format of the kiteboard racing events rewards the rider's performance throughout the week, but at the same time gives an opportunity to anyone in the Medal Series to win.

 The Medal Series will be broadcasted live through the IKA channels. Join us at 1300 CET and we'll find out together who will be the 2023 Formula Kite Youth World Champion.