KiteFoil World Series Austria: Gomez pushed to the Max on his Element

8 Settembre 2024

Benoit Gomez of France took his first race win of KiteFoil World Series Austria but it’s still Max Maeder of Singapore who continues to rule the roost on Lake Traunsee.

The northerly breeze was blowing nicely on the Austrian lake, strong enough to give the kitefoilers a bit of a headache over kite selection. Croatian Olympic representative Martin Dolenc went out on his 23 square metre Flysurfer, the grey and lime green kite he used at the Paris 2024 Games. “I felt a bit overpowered at the bottom of the course,” Dolenc said, “and it would have been nicer to have a smaller kite.”

Benni to the rescue

The next nice down in Dolenc’s limited quiver was a brand new 15 sqm Flysurfer but the Flysurfer designer, Benni Boelli, was generous enough to offer a switcharound of kites after the first race. The 35-year-old German has been out of serious competition for the best part of six years and his on the race course just have to fun, and do a bit of market research and product testing. This is the start of the new Olympic cycle for Los Angeles 2028 and he has been waiting two years to unleash his latest kite designs on the fleet.

“I was using the new 21 square metre and I was feeling the power a bit too much,” admitted the German veteran. “So I switched to a 15 sqm kite and it was good to hand over the 21 sqm to Martin and put it in the hands of someone who can really bring out its full potential.”

Dolenc gratefully took over the distinctive blue kite from Boelli and duly turned in some strong performances. “I definitely felt faster upwind but I have to learn how to get the best out of it on the downwind,” said the Croatian. His regular training partner Maeder was certainly showing an extra click of pace on the downwinds, sailing a little bit deeper than his rivals.

Elementary, Gomez

The one occasion that Maeder didn’t manage to win came in race 8 when his start was a bit second-row. Gomez had been fast out of the pin end and was first into the steep cliff on the left-hand side of Traunsee where the wind blows at its strongest. “I was feeling fast on the new kite,” said Gomez, who has been busy developing a rival kite capable of challenging the near-monopoly of Flysurfer over the past two seasons. On the strengths of the performances seen by Gomez and Monaco’s Alex Ehlen, the Element 21 sqm kite, with its patented scalloped leading edge, is showing signs of being every bit as fast as the Flysurfer in today’s conditions which ranged from 7 to 11 knots.

Gomez led from start to finish, albeit Maeder’s late change on the final downwind saw Singapore’s 17-year-old overtake Dolenc on the first gybe and close to within a few metres of the Frenchman’s lead by the finish line. “It feels good on the new equipment,” said Maeder who has had the benefit of helping develop the latest generation of gear with foil designer Levitaz as well as Flysurfer’s new kite range. “Tomorrow we have the medal series so it’s a different kind of racing but I will take the same approach, just try to be steady and keep on racing the same way.”

A format fit for a Champion’s Comeback

Behind Maeder is Dolenc in second, Gomez in third, the young Swiss rider Gian Stragiotti in fourth just ahead of the Olympic Champion Valentin Bontus who is getting to grips with the new equipment as well as managing multiple media demands as one of only two gold medal winners for Austria from Paris 2024. However, as Bontus proved at the Games, he responds well to the pressure of the knock-out rounds on the final day and anything could yet happen on Sunday.

Jessie Kampman has been as dominant in the women’s fleet as Maeder has been in the men. It hasn’t come easy for the French rider, however. “My legs, my back, pretty much everything is aching,” she smiled on the beach in Ebensee after six gruelling races. “I think my body needs to get used to kite foiling again. I thought about changing to a smaller kite because it was quite breezy at the bottom end of the course. But I saw Elena [Lengwiler], Gal [Zukerman] and Alina [Kornelli] were all on their big kites. So if they could do it, I thought I’d just stay on the big kite too. And that was pretty useful near the top mark because when we tacked on the layline we were all pumping, pumping to stay on the foil and get around the mark.”

Girl just wants to have fun

This is the first time Kampman goes into the final day of KiteFoil World Series event wearing the leader’s yellow bib. Based on her performance so far, it’s hard to see anyone taking away the gold medal from the French rider, but the medal series format leaves the outcome sufficiently open for Kampman still to needing to push hard on Super Sunday.

While she is in pole position for victory, Kampman is playing down the competitive element in this post-Olympics phase of the season. “I think this event is all about testing the equipment and just seeing everyone again. It’s a fun event, and it’s cool to be here.”

Waiting to pounce on any error by Kampman on the final day is Swiss rider Lengwiler in second, with Israel’s Zukerman and Austria’s Kornelli also capable of creating an upset in the medal series.

Anyone, yes anyone, can still win

The final day commences with a ‘Golden Ticket’ race for all those outside the top nine. Whoever wins that race will take the Golden Ticket to join the rest of the contenders in the medal series. It’s a format change that has already been battle-tested on the Wingfoil Racing World Cup but it’s the first time the kitefoiling community will experience the Golden Ticket, an innovation which creates the opportunity for any rider to win the competition on the final day.

Livestreaming of the racing begins at 1200 hours Austrian time on Sunday.

Live Stream Pull link: rtmp://live.restream.io/pull/play_3312007_f97e7931ee80208de5df

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