iQFOiL Games: Hawkins and Wilson win doldrums final on Lanzarote - Steinlein in fifth place

On the fifth and final day of the iQFOiL Games on Lanzarote, the Medal Series was on the agenda. But the Top eight athletes from both fleets had to be patient, as the wind was a long time coming. Race Committee Officer Cesar Sans and his team searched for hours for suitable conditions before they finally found what they were looking for near Playa de Papagayo. However, the light breeze only reached an average of seven knots and placed high demands on the tactical discipline of the athletes in the decisive knockout races. The men opened the Medal Series with their quarter-finals, while the women took their turn immediately afterwards. After a further wait on the water, the men's semi-finals were completed before the wind finally died and racing was cancelled for the rest of the day.

French dominance in the quarter-finals

In the men's quarter-finals, the two French athletes Yun Pouliquen and Adrien Mestre came out on top and qualified for the semi-finals. They eliminated Nacho Baltasar Summers from Spain and Duncan Monaghan from Great Britain. In the women's competition, Theresa Steinlein and Medea Falcioni from Italy put in strong performances and also secured their place in the next round. Islay Watson from Great Britain and Palma Čargo from Croatia, on the other hand, were eliminated from the competition.

After another wait on the water, the conditions briefly returned to a navigable level. This meant that the men's semi-finals could still be completed. Pouliquen and Mestre once again proved their strength and secured their places in the final, where they would face Fin Hawkins from Great Britain and Nicolas Goyard from France. Johan Søe from Denmark, winner of the 2025 Games, was beaten, as was the bronze medallist from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Luuc Van Opzeeland from the Netherlands. Shortly after the semi-finals were over, however, the wind finally collapsed, meaning that no further races were possible.

Overall standings decide the podium

As the finals could no longer be held, the overall standings were determined on the basis of the results collected throughout the week. Fin Hawkins from Great Britain was crowned the overall winner in the men's event, while Emma Wilson also won the women's title for Great Britain. The silver medals went to Nicolas Goyard from France in the men's event and Sharon Kantor from Israel in the women's event. Yun Pouliquen from France took bronze in the men's fleet, while Italy's Olympic champion Marta Maggetti finished third in the women's fleet. In addition to Theresa Steinlein in fifth place, Sophia Meyer also put in a strong performance in 17th place; the Berlin native also made it into the top ten several times. Lenny Friemel was the best German in the men's event in 41st place. Max Körner came 46th, Finley Evans 48th, Siddartha Hummler 57th and Bastian Weber 59th.

Emma Wilson was pleased with her performance: "I've had a really good week and I think I've been consistent and on top, which I'm pretty happy about because it's January, the start of the new season." She thanked her coach and her training partners. Fin Hawkins commented on his win, "I've had a pretty crazy week, we started with some sprint slaloms, then the next day we went into sprint upwinds, and then we finished the week with some windy course races and over the week I've managed to deliver good results in all different formats and all different conditions." Although he regretted that the final could not take place, he was very pleased with the overall win.

Results iQFOiL Games Lanzarote 2026

Gents

1. Fin Hawkins
2. NicolasGoyard
3. Yun Pouliquen

Women

1. Emma Wilson
2. Sharon Kantor
3. Marta Maggetti

• Click here for the complete results: 2026iqgameslanzarote.sailti.com