The iQFOiL Youth and Junior World Championship came to an end at the weekend off Mallorca. With 375 starters from 35 nations, the Olympic class was well represented in terms of young talent. The new world champions are Darcey Shaw (GBR, women's U19), Federico Pilloni (ITA, men's U19), Alba Klein (ISR, women's U17) and Itamar Levi (ISR, men's U17). The World Championships were characterised by changeable conditions: While there was almost no wind at all on some days and the Medal Races, among others, fell victim to the calm, the scheduled races had to be cancelled on Friday due to a storm warning.
Storm warning prevents further races
"It was a very difficult event. We had to deal with a lack of wind almost every other day, and on the last day of the opening series there was a storm warning, which prevented us from completing all the planned races. Nevertheless, the venue was beautiful as always and it was great to be part of it," said Ewa Jodkowska, head race officer.
As a result, the standings in the four categories (U17 and U19, men's and women's) remained unchanged after ten rounds. "I'm U19 World Champion, which feels really good," said Darcey Shaw from Great Britain, who won the U19 women's event. "I definitely wanted a medal, but I don't know if I was expecting it, it's so great to win gold. I think I owe the win to a really good first day and I think my overall speed has been really good this week."
Italy's Federico Pilloni took the title in the U19 men's event. "I can't believe that I'm the 2024 Youth World Champion," he said when it became clear that his lead could no longer be taken from him. "I had an incredible week, we had two really good days of course racing that led me to victory here!"
Emma and Moritz Schleicher from Burghausen with top results
From a German perspective, the iQFoilers from SV Wacker Burghausen put in a particularly strong performance. Siblings Emma and Moritz Schleicher finished in 8th place (women's U19) and 12th place (men's U17). Emma might have been able to move up even further, but a crash with Dutch rider Yfke van der Meer in race number six brought the World Championships to a premature end. In addition to damage to her board and foil, Schleicher also had to have treatment on her shoulder, where she had been hit by the Dutchwoman's mast. For the final heats, she was then awarded her average points from the previous heats following a jury decision.
Eva Lotte Grünbaum finished the World Championships in 42nd place in the U19 women's category, Lenny Friemel (Portrait in the new surf 11-12/2024Max Winkler was 88th in the same class, Nils Präger came 97th, directly followed by Erik Wehkamp. Matti Winkler came 109th, Paul Regber was 112th and Eddie Burger 122nd. While there was no starter with a GER sail number in the U17 women's race, Gustav Grünbaum came 105th in the U17 men's race, Julian Ahrens 115th and Fritz Grünbaum 123rd.
Results iQFoil Junior World Championship 2024
U19 Ladies
- Darcey Shaw
- Maya Gysler
- Nela Sadílkova
U17 Ladies
- Alba Klein
- Rüya Uğurlu
- Julia Przybył
U19 Men
- Federico Pilloni
- Igor Lewinski
- Kylian Manhaval
U17 Men
- Itamar Levi
- Leopold Brisedou
- David Aleshko
