Big finale on the cards

28/01/2023

The penultimate day of racing on the waters of the Canary Islands finished with all the scheduled races completed once again. The top 10 will compete at the Medal Series. Sam Sills (GBR) and Sharon Kantor (ISR) have progressed directly to the Final and both have already secured a podium place at this first key event of the iQFoil season. The Lanzarote iQFOil Games are coming to an exciting conclusion on Saturday.

Another great day of foiling windsurfing in the Canary Islands. The Lanzarote iQFOil Games saw the fourth, penultimate day of competition running a slalom format, explosive, super fast racing -each heat about 4-5 minutes long- during which it is vital to stay at top speed and not slow or crash. The women raced four more course races (W/L) with about 20 knots of wind and gusts of 24 kts, while the boys have completed three (W/L).
There are no changes in the women's provisional podium, led still by Sharon Kantor (ISR), Pilar Lamadrid (ESP) and Katy Spychakov (ISR). The three sailors won their respective slalom races and are well ahead of the pack now, especially Kantor and Lamadrid. Both have been a class apart so far but everything is completely open for tomorrow since Lamadrid and Spychakov still have to secure their place in the Final. The athlete that crosses the finish line first will be the winner of this edition of the Lanzarote iQFOil Games.
“This morning we went out on the water and the wind was quite light, so I was preparing for the slalom actually. At the start time the wind started to pick up and usually we don’t do slalom in windy conditions slalom, so it was pretty tough and not easy to go full power, so I am actually happy to win it.” Spychakov said.

With five Israeli windsurfers in the female top 10, there is no doubt about their strength and depth. Shahar Zubari, RS:X bronze medallist in Beijing 2008, has been the coach of the Israeli women's national team for a year now. For him, the key to this good performance is precisely the nice weather in their country together with the strong history in the sport: “It is like the Canary Islands. We have summer almost of the year, we can train all the year, we have a good training base and there is a tradition for this sport”. And they have built a very formidable team: “We have a strong team, and I think this is our strength basically. They are doing a great job by pushing each other everyday on the water and this is the most important thing. For them it is a hard challenge because in 2024 the Olympics in Paris there is only one spot for an Israeli windsurfers so there is strong battle who will take this ticket, so this is our goal to put a real strong candidate to take a Medal in the Olympics in Paris.”

The Olympic runner-up in Tokyo, the 31-years old Thomas Goyard (FRA), and the Israeli Yoah Omer won their slalom races, but their wins are not enough for either to go on to the Medal Series. “I won the slalom course so it was good. It was super windy and there were lots of recalls on the first fleet,” the Frenchman explained. “Then I did a first in my heat, so I am I really happy. After it, we had 3 course races with really shifty and windy conditions”. Sam Sills (GBR), leader in Lanzarote since the first day, managed to go directly to the Final, even though he had not had his best day: (DNC/43)-(31)-12-1. Reigning iQFOil World Champion Sebastian Kördel (GER) also manages to be in the Medal Series from the 10th place. The men's top 10 is pretty tight with the top seven all very close, so it will be interesting to see what happens Saturday in the Medal Series.

Provisional overalls. iQFOil Women. Day 4
1. Sharon Kantor (ISR), 2+2+1+2+(8)+2+1+1+1+1+(27)+(6)+1+1+1+1+1+2=19
2. Pilar Lamadrid (ESP), 1+1+6+1+(17)+1+2+2+2+2+3+(20)+1+2+2+3+4=27
3. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 3+3+2+(13)+9+4+3+3+(37)+11+1+1+1+(13)+12+6+5=64
… 66 entries

Provisional overalls. iQFOil Men. Day 4
1. Sam Sills (GBR), 1+1+1+1+1+1+(11,5)+(11,5)+5+4+1+1+(DNC/43)+(31)+12+1=30
2. Nicolas Goyard (FRA), 2+(13)+6+(8)+1+1+1,5+1,5+2+2+(30)+15+9+3+13+(20)=57
3. Tom Reuveny (ISR), 1+6+1+(19)+(20)+6+3,5+3,5+7+1+11+7+(23)+10+1+(19)= 58
… 84 entries

Source: iQFOil Class
Photos: Sailing Energy