iQFoil World Championship: Kördel and Steinlein get off to a strong start, van Opzeeland and Wilson lead the way

The first races of the 2024 iQFOiL World Championships took place yesterday in Lanzarote, after the wind had weakened at the start. The men completed four slalom races, the women five. Reigning world champion Luuc van Opzeeland from the Netherlands is in the lead, while Emma Wilson from Great Britain is ahead in the women's race. The wind fluctuated between 10 and 15 knots and was gusty at times. The course was moved from the marina to Papagayo beach during the course of the day.

With four wins from four races, Luuc van Opzeeland has made a perfect start to his title defence, but Sebastian Kördel is already close behind, keen to reclaim the world championship title. Kördel took three wins in his group and is level on points with third-placed New Zealander Joshua Armit in second place. "Too late a start in the first race, but the rest worked out wonderfully!" said a delighted Kördel.

Fabian Wolf got off to a less than ideal start, only getting going in the fourth run and finishing the day in eleventh place. However, 73rd place is still room for improvement, Jonne Heimann is in 84th place.

Emma Wilson dominates the women's competition

Emma Wilson, Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo, is one of the top favourites at the World Championships. The Briton, who has already been nominated for Marseille, won four of the five women's slalom races and came third in a further race. Pila Lamadrid, who is still fighting to be able to compete for Spain at the Olympics, is six points behind her. "We've been training in Lanzarote since the end of November, and spending so much time on the water here and getting to know the regatta course has given us a lot of confidence and experience," says Lamadrid. "Both physically and mentally I feel good and I think we've done a good job, but this is only the beginning of the season and the World Championships, and there's still a lot of 2024 ahead of us."

Theresa Steinlein, the German hope for an Olympic starting place in the women's event, is in 18th place after the first five races. Steinlein has consistently finished close to the top ten, even crossing the finish line in third place on one occasion. Alisa Engelmann is currently in 64th place, Sophia Meyer is 77th after the first day.

Intermediate result iQFoil-WM Lanzarote

Gents

1. Luuc van Opzeeland
2. Sebastian Koerdel
3. Joshua Armit

Ladies

1. Emma Wilson
2. Pilar Lamadrid
3. Palma Cargo

Also interesting:

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• iQFoil: Theresa Steinlein wants to represent Germany at the 2024 Olympics