2024 KiteFoil World Series Sardinia - Day 2
by Andy Rice, IKA 4 Oct 02:51 BST
2-5 October 2024
The future Dr Maus hoping to get back to competition on Friday © IKA Media / Robert Hajduk
Occasionally there's a dull moment on the kiteboarding circuit, but never for very long. The threat of thunderstorms, dark clouds scudding across the Sardinian sky and gusts in excess of 30 knots always made the prospect of racing unlikely for day two of KiteFoil World Series Sardinia.
But some riders just can't bear to waste a moment of beach life. They just have different ways of going about it. While younger brother Karl Maeder was daring to lie prone on Poetto Beach as he was being swooped and attacked by a fast-diving stunt kite, elder brother Max Maeder was doing battle on the chess board in the nearby beach café.
Brain food
Currently in the post-Olympics hangover, some of the older kiteboarders are contemplating life choices and how much time they'll take out of training and full-on campaign life before fully committing to the build-up towards Los Angeles 2028. One of them is Jannis Maus, who represented Germany at Paris 2024 where he finished fifth at the Olympic Regatta in Marseille.
"We finished the Olympics on 8th August and after all those amazing experiences including the closing ceremony I went back home for a few weeks," said the tall German. "Then on 1st September I went back to university and returned straight to my studies towards getting a PhD in wind energy.
"I've been in a working group for a few years and after getting my Masters degree in 2022 I said I was going to focus on my kiteboarding campaign and I was absolutely full-on for two years. But after the Olympics I definitely needed something different to activate my brain in another way.
Real-world laboratory
"So now I'm back to studying how to optimise wind farms. In the north of Germany we have a big wind tunnel which enables us to simulate some very intense weather situations, a bit like we've seen today on Poetto Beach, with very gusty winds, very changeable directions."
Maus believes his experience of watching the wind, the clouds, his surrounding environment in the world of kiting brings a different perspective to the theory that guides their academic research. "I have had some lectures on atmospheric boundary layers and gusts such as we have when we're at the beach. So I think it's a nice bridge to be actually experiencing these conditions that we then try to simulate in the wind tunnel. It's good to have a hands-on experience from the outside world and not only be relying on all the physical and mathematical formulae."
Whether or not Maus is able to make a comeback as Germany's Olympic representative is not purely down to his own abilities and commitment. There's a new generation of younger German riders who are pushing hard for that Olympic spot.
But Maus hopes to remain involved in some way or another. "I'm trying to play it more from a team perspective, to help make sure that we have Germany as one of the top countries in kiting for 2028. So if it's me or someone younger like Jan Voester or someone else, I would love to be involved in that journey. My dream really is to be able to go to Los Angeles in 2028 as Dr Maus."
The future Dr Maus, along with the rest of the competitors in Cagliari are getting ready for day three of racing when the forecast is looking a lot friendly for high-speed kitefoiling action.
After five races from an exhilarating and exhausting first day of competition, there isn't much to separate the front runners. Three-time winner of the Kitefoil World Series Axel Mazella sits on top of the men's leaderboard, the Frenchman just a point ahead of Max Maeder of Singapore. In the women, France's Jessie Kampman is just in front of Israel's Gal Zukerman, with Italy's Maggie Pescetto and Switzerland's Elena Lengwiler not far behind.
Friday's fleet racing as well as Saturday's medal series are set to be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
Results Men
1. Axel Mazella, FRA - 9.0p
2. Max Maeder, SGP - 10.0p
3. Benoit Gomez, FRA - 12.0p
Results women
1. Jessie Kampman, FRA - 95.0p
2. Gal Zukerman, ISR - 100.0p
3. Maggie Pescetto, ITA - 107.0p
Full results here