2024 KiteFoil World Series Sardinia - Overall
by Andy Rice, IKA 5 Oct 20:52 BST
2-5 October 2024
Double victories for Jessie Kampman and Max Maeder - 2024 KiteFoil World Series Sardinia © IKA Media / Robert Hajduk
Max Maeder and Jessie Kampman have become the champions of Poetto Beach after they took out the men's and women's titles on a gusty final day at Kitefoil World Series Sardinia.
The fourth and final day of competition started with the Golden Ticket race, a single long-distance battle to see who would grab the final men's and women's spot in the 10-rider medal series.
Shifty and gusty
Brazil's Lucas Fonseca made a fantastic start on port tack in front of the bulk of the fleet and he led across the finish line, only to discover he had been UFD disqualified for starting a moment too early. Germany's Flo Gruber read the gusts and shifts off the shore to earn his place in the men's repechage while Croatia's Marija Dolenc grabbed the women's Golden Ticket.
Through the next single-race knock-out rounds, we'd now find out who had the speed, the tactics and mental fortitude to take one of the remaining places in the four-rider finals.
Portuguese progress
Mafalda Pires de Lima made impressive progress through the repechage and quarter finals and looked well on her way to booking a place in the women's final. But the Portuguese rider misjudged a port-starboard situation with Israel's Gal Zukerman on the final upwind leg of the semi-final and missed her moment to go any further in the competition.
In the women's final, France's Jessie Kampman started on match point thanks to winning the opening series from the previous three days of competition. The yellow bib wearer soon took up the lead and maintained her advantage all the way to the finish.
After a long season with many highs and lows, Kampman took out the title in Sardinia and has won her first ever Kitefoil World Series Championship. Silver and bronze go respectively to Switzerland's Elena Lengwiler and Maggie Pescetto of Italy who earned her first medal in a Kitefoil World Series event.
The MVP
In the men's final, the up-and-coming talent from Switzerland, Gian Stragiotti pushed Max Maeder hard all the way to the finish. But undeterred, the Singaporean was as rock-solid as ever, Maeder seizing an early lead off the start line and taking out men's victory in a single race. Experienced Frenchman Axel Mazella took silver, and Stragiotti's bronze was an immense achievement for the fast-improving 17-year-old.
Maeder was keener to talk up the performance of Stragiotti than reflect on his own victory. "For me, Gian was the MVP [Most Valuable Player] of this regatta, he has sailed super well and he deserves his success," said Maeder, exactly a year older than his Swiss friend and rival. Maeder hasn't taken much time to recuperate after all the pressure of racing in the Olympic Games where he took bronze for Singapore. "I'm just happy to be back training and racing, and doing what we love. And it's always great to come back to Sardinia," he said.
First big win for Jessie
While Maeder has won many titles in his short career, this is the biggest win so far for Kampman. "It's nice to win, but it's even nicer to be racing in these conditions. We've used all sizes of kites here this week and it's fun to race everyone in a range of breeze."
After many years of hard campaigning, Kampman is taking a change of tack, as she's headed to Cape Town, South Africa, where she'll be working for a law firm for a few months. "We live in a bubble, doing what we do in kiting," she said. "I love it, we're very lucky to be in this bubble but even when you love what you do it's good to take time discovering other things in life." Kampman says she intends to be back on the kitefoiling circuit next year.
Maeder's and Kampman's victories in Sardinia were good enough to secure the overall 2024 series titles for these riders. While that's the end of the Kitefoil World Series for this season, the circuit moves on in just a few day's time further north in the island of Sardinia, to Torregrande for the Formula Kite Youth European Championship.
Results Men
1. Max Maeder, SGP - GOLD
2. Axel Mazella, FRA - SILVER
3. Gian Stragiotti, SUI - BRONZE
Results Women
1. Jessie Kampman, FRA - GOLD
2. Elena Lengwiler, SUI - SILVER
3. Maggie Pescetto, ITA - BRONZE
Full results here