Participants from 35 nations travelled to the Balearic island for the season highlight of the iQ youth classes. Spain, France, Great Britain, Poland and Italy are particularly well represented. A total of 13 young surfers from the German Sailing Association are taking part. The German U19 surfers are the most strongly represented with seven participants. There are no German surfers in the U17 female class. Other nations are a big step ahead in their work with young talent. The most promising candidates from a German perspective are likely to be siblings Emma and Moritz Schleicher (U19w and U17m) and Paul Regber and Lenny Friemel in the U19m.
Tough mode for the youngsters too
The competition begins with the qualifying series, in which 375 sailors compete for a place in the final series: the best 50 per cent make it into the Goldfleet, while the remaining participants surf in the Silverfleet. After these rounds, the top ten overall finishers progress to the Medal Race Series, which is organised as follows:
- Quarter finals
- The participants who are ranked 4th to 10th in the overall standings after the final series will compete in the quarter-finals.
- The top two finishers in this quarter-final go through to the semi-finals.
- Semi-final
- The top two finishers from the quarter-finals and the second and third-placed teams from the final series will take part in the semi-finals.
- The top two finishers in the semi-final go through to the grand final.
- Grand finale
- The grand final consists of the two winners of the semi-final and the first-placed team in the final series.
- The winner of the grand final will be declared the overall winner of the event, while second and third place will be awarded based on their final placing in the grand final.
The adults also surf in this exciting but also very controversial mode. No mistake can be corrected in the medal races, as Theresa Steinlein, for example, painfully realised at the 2024 Olympic Games in Marseille. You can read an interview with the current best German iQFOiLer here .
Further information on the World Cup and the latest results you can find here.
