iQFOiL Kiel Week: Fabian Wolf and Sophia Meyer in the top three

The second day of the iQFOiL International Games 2025 in Kiel compensated athletes and spectators for the windless start. In freshening winds, several races were completed in all classes. The seniors completed five heats, while the juniors took to the water for four races.

Fabian Wolf with home advantage, Sophia Meyer in third place

Tomasz Romanowski from Poland took the lead in the men's event. With two race wins and consistently strong placings in the other races, he sailed his way to the top of the table. Romanowski was satisfied with his performance: "Five races in around 8 knots of wind today, plus some seaweed and high temperatures. I managed to do pretty well and I'm leading at the moment, but I'm already looking forward to the next races in the coming days with strong winds." Local hero Fabian Wolf and Korean Gunhak Choi followed in second place, both of whom also put in convincing performances. Wolf clearly benefited from his familiarity with the conditions on the Kiel Fjord.

Max Körner is in fourth place after the first races, Lenny Friemel is ninth. The other Germans in the main field are Jakob Ditzen in 22nd place and Levin Rosken and Bastian Weber in 37th and 38th.

The French dominated the women's event. Lucie Belbeoch raced to the top of the rankings with strong and consistent results. Her team-mate Marion Couturier and Sophia Meyer completed the top 3. Belbeoch was already looking ahead: "Five slalom races in changeable winds, we had a lot of nice fights between us girls. But tomorrow and Tuesday will be windy, it will be a whole new regatta - I can hardly wait!" Foil world champion Jutine Lemeteyer is in sixth place, Alica Stuhlemmer is twelfth for the time being.

Impressing young talent

In the U19 classification, Norway's Henrik Løset Eriksen put in a tactically clever performance and secured the lead after the second day of competition. He was delighted with the good conditions: "We had a very nice day today, it was windy and 30 degrees, we started at 11.30am and completed all five races. A big storm is forecast for tonight, so we have to secure our equipment and are looking forward to a very good day tomorrow." Behind him are Erik Wehkamp and Paul Regber in second and third place, with a total of seven young German riders in the ten-strong field.

The races in the mixed U17 class were particularly exciting. Here, the girls were able to keep up with the boys. Anna Korevaar from the Netherlands impressed with a second place in one of the races. The Italian Ginevra Giunti sailed the most consistently in this age group. She was satisfied with her performance: "Today was such a good day for me, the first three races were good, then I fell at the last buoy in the last one, but I'm pretty happy with my starts and gybes. I need to work on the downwind courses, that's something I really want to improve on for the World Championship in Brest in a month's time. I enjoyed riding with the guys and I'm looking forward to more of the same tomorrow."

David Bleistein from Sweden stood out in the U17 boys' event, winning all of the day's races - an impressive performance in this strong field. Julian Ahrens and Gustav Poeschke, two GER starters, finished directly behind him on the podium.

Course race with a lot of wind

Significantly more wind is forecast for the coming days, which should make the races even more challenging. The course racing in particular, which is now on the programme, will present the athletes with new challenges. The juniors will start on Tuesday at 12:00, followed by the seniors at 14:30. The races will be broadcast live on www.kielerwoche.tv transferred.