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MARSEILLE – The Paris Olympics have been a test of skills, tactics and most importantly, patience for Singaporean kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder.
The 17-year-old was made to wait another day to fight for a spot on the podium after light winds resulted in the postponement of the Formula Kite final. Only one race out of up to a maximum of six was held at the Marseille Marina on Aug 8.
But the two-time world champion noted that waiting was a normal part of the sport, saying: “You come to kiting and sometimes the weather doesn’t play ball, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
“So you get used to it and I’ve been competing long enough so that it doesn’t really bother me to wait around. I mean, of course, it’s a shame to wait.”
While the mixed dinghy and multihull medal races were completed earlier in the day, the kitefoiling competition started with the men’s and women’s semi-finals after a two-hour delay owing to a lack of wind.
Under the scorching sun in Marseille, Maximilian maintained his cool and appeared relaxed in the athletes’ area, listening to Austrian composer Johann Strauss and replying to messages of support from fans.
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In the semi-finals, Austria’s Valentin Bontus and Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi earned their spots to join Maximilian and Slovenian Toni Vodisek in the final. The latter two had qualified direct from the opening series.
Vodisek, 24, entered the four-athlete final with two match points, needing just one race win in the first-to-three series to clinch gold, while Maximilian needed two as he carried just one point over.
But the regatta served up yet another dramatic twist as Bontus took the first race ahead of Maximilian, who finished second, to draw level with the Singaporean on one match point. A drop in the wind delayed the start of the second final race, with the wake from the surrounding boats causing Vodisek and Bontus to fall into the water ahead of the start.
Bontus struggled to get his kite up again in poor wind conditions and the organising committee then decided to postpone the race to Aug 9 as it was past the local cut-off time of 5.37pm.
As things stand, Vodisek, who finished last in the first race of the final, still has the upper hand going into the final day of racing with two match points in hand. He just needs to win one race to clinch the gold.
Bontus and Maximilian both need two race wins on Aug 9 to finish at the top of the podium, while Pianosi needs three.
The regatta ends once one kitefoiler gets three match points, with the standings for the rest determined first by the number of race wins they have. If there is a tie, it goes down to the result of the final race.
If no racing takes place on Aug 9 and things remain as they are, Vodisek will take gold, while Bontus and Maximilian will take silver and bronze respectively based on the results from the latest race.
Reflecting on his sole race of the day, Maximilian expressed surprise at how he recovered from a blip before the start as he went from foiling to touching the water.
He explained: “Right before the start, probably my wing tip came out… I went from foiling (and) basically crashed into the water, but I didn’t fall off the board. I managed to recover immediately, come back up and so yes, I was slower for a couple of seconds, meaning that everyone went ahead.”
Maximilian is glad to have another chance to race on Aug 9. He said: “Everything remains the same in terms of strategic approach and procedure I follow.
“The only thing that does change is I’m no longer in a silver position, I’m holding a bronze position. If there’s no racing tomorrow, I go home with a bronze medal.
“But of course, we hope to get racing tomorrow.”
As she waited on the shore, Maximilian’s mother Teng Hwee Keng told The Straits Times that she is used to the delays at kitefoiling competitions.
She said: “This is something that happens quite often in this sport and I’m quite used to it because my husband is a glider pilot and it’s also a nature sport.”
The 52-year-old also shared a message of support for Max: “We love you, Max. Enjoy, be happy, the world is your oyster.”
Additional reporting by Rohit Brijnath
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
