The 2024 iQFoil World Championship has been underway at Marina Rubicon on Lanzarote since the weekend. After three days of registration, measurement, a training regatta and the opening ceremony, the first races are due to start today. The mode is as usual in iQFoil: three days are planned for the heats, followed by the division into gold and silver fleets and then the medal races at the end. Depending on the conditions, there will be a course race, a slalom or a marathon.
Sebastian Kördel, world champion in 2022 and runner-up in 2023, is also one of the favourites and will face rivals such as Luuc van Opzeeland and Nicolo Renna, with whom he has fought close duels in previous regattas. In the women's event, Israel's Sharon Kantor, Shahar Tibi, Tamar Steinberg and Katy Spychakow have dominated the last few major events.
Important event for Olympic qualification
In addition to Sebastian Kördel, Fabian Wolf and Jonne Heimann have also entered the men's event for Germany, while Sophia Meyer, Alisa Engelmann and Theresa Steinlein have been entered for the women's event. The focus is naturally on the reigning runner-up and medal hopeful Sebastian Kördel and Theresa Steinlein, who was in the top ten at times at the last World Championships. While the Olympic starting place for the men is already secure, the women still have to qualify. However, only one more Olympic ticket will be awarded in Lanzarote, and Denmark has the best chance of doing so. A "last chance" regatta then awaits in the spring.
However, the World Championship is the first of three events for the DSV internal qualification. All athletes with a German sail number can collect points here in order to be nominated for the national starting place. For other nations, the decision will already be made in Lanzarote, such as the strong Israeli women, who have dominated the women's rankings in recent years. Their head coach Shahar Zubari explains: "The pressure is pretty high, but at the moment it's positive, even though it's the most important competition of the season." Meanwhile, Great Britain, among others, has already nominated its Olympic starters, Emma Wilson and Sam Sills will be competing in Marseille with the Union Jack.
Measuring the iQFoil equipment
iQFoil is a one-design class, which means that everyone uses identical equipment. Sails, boards and foils are meticulously measured in advance to ensure that nobody optimises their equipment outside the permitted limits. The class organisation showed how this works in a short video at the weekend:
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Under 2024iqworldslanzarote.sailti.com for all the information and results. In addition, the races from 1 to 3 February will be broadcast live on the Youtube channel of the iQFOiL class transferred.
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Tobias Frauen
Editor
