2023 iQFoil International Games Torbole - Day 2
by Elena Giolai 12 Oct 2023 16:21 BST
10-15 October 2023
2023 iQFoil International Games Torbole - Day 2 © Elena Giolai
The second day of the Torbole iQFoil International Games was both challenging and varied in Torbole, on Garda Trentino, as the morning programme was completely respected with the start of the marathon race (at 9:00 am with a total duration of about one hour) followed by two sprint slalom races, for both categories in the race.
As for the men's marathon race, the start was repeated due to a course irregularity that occurred at the first buoy, while for the women everything went smoothly. For everyone, however, a beautiful hour of racing with a northerly wind that blew at up to 18 knots and the completion of two and a half laps of a quadrilateral course with a windward-leeward finish, in front of the Circolo Surf Torbole, organisers of the event that began on Wednesday and will end with the medal series on Sunday 15 October. If compared to the first day the disciplines have changed with the marathon and the sprint slalom, compared to Wednesday's course race, the first positions in the general classification have not changed much, confirming at the top the same athletes of the first day.
The marathon race, which counts double points, saw the first three males in the provisional overall classification finish in order, with the winner being Turkey's Onur Cavit Biriz (who had been overtaken by France's Bourgeois on the second lap), closely followed by France's Bourgeois and Pouliquen. The goal of all the racers is still to get into the top 10 in the overall standings to be able to compete in the medal series and play for the podium, with the last and decisive races. In fact, the medal in the pocket will only be held by the first in the general classification who will have to race the final to decide the colour.
The women's marathon race was won by Czech Katerina Svikova, followed by Germany's Engelmann; third was Poland's Wawrzyniak. Shortly after the conclusion of the marathon race, the FIV Race Committee, assisted by the International iQFoil class, quickly moved the race course to continue with the sprint slalom races, which, as scheduled, saw two races take place, with the males divided into two batteries. Especially for the men's category, the slalom saw a few partials in favour of those who were slightly further back in the overall standings on Wednesday, as well as a few early start disqualifications for some athletes at the top of the leaderboard.
Winners of the individual heats were the Norwegian Endre Funnemark and the Spaniard Jorge Aranzueque Campello in the first round. In the second slalom victory went to the French World Youth Champion Gaspard Carfantan and the other French talent Fabien Pianazza, an old frequenter of Lake Garda and Circolo Surf Torbole since the time of his porimi International Championships such as the Techno 293 World Championships in 2016. Among the girls the two slaloms were won by Czech Dilara Uralp Palombo and German Engelmann respectively.
Friday will be raced again in the morning with a northerly wind starting at 9:00 and in all likelihood will try to test the new "U" course (image attached) for slalom or course race depending on wind strength.