What a sight to behold: Against the impressive backdrop of Torbole, an incredible 422 iQFoilers from 36 nations took to the water last week. At Lake Garda, the titles in the U19 and U17 age groups were awarded at the Junior European Championships, both for men and women.
From light winds to 22 knots, from sun to rain, Lake Garda offered every conceivable condition. More than ten rounds of course racing and slalom were organised in all categories, plus a marathon on the penultimate day.
In the medal races on the final day, a close three-way battle developed in the U19 men's event between Australia's Harry Joyner, Igor Lewinksi from Poland and Italy's Federico Pilloni. The latter had only been in second place after the heats, but held his nerve in the final and won ahead of Harry Joyner, who had been leading up to this point.
In the U19 women's race, however, the lead changed hands several times in the decisive race. In the end, Kristyna Pinosova from the Czech Republic crossed the finish line first and secured the European Championship title. Carola Colasanto, who was ahead after the heats, took silver, with Danielle Ziv from Israel in third.
In the U17 men's event, the best of the heats, Frenchman Kylian Manhaval, also had to settle for silver in the end. He was overtaken in the final by Peleg Rajuan from Israel, while his compatriot Hoel Quintric took bronze.
Medea Falcioni, who actually belongs to the U15 category, won the women's U17 classification. Already at the Foil World Championship in May she had shown her skills with fourth place in the overall standings. Falcioni fought a close duel with Ada Tan from Turkey in the medal race. Caterina Tomas Cardell, who was in the lead after the heats, took bronze in the end.
The best Germans were Lenny Friemel (63rd place U19 men), Lucy Schleicher (35th place U19 women) and Eddie Burger (79th place U17 men).

Editor