Briton Connor Bainbridge and Elena Lengwiler from Switzwerland dominated the Last Chance Regatta at the French Olympic Week and earned their respective countries a ticket to the Paris, alongside Poland's Maks Zakowski and Julia Damasiewicz who joined them in the finals and confirmed their countries place a day early.
© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Connor Bainbridge 'finally' managed to qualify GBR to the Paris 2024 Olympics
In the women’s kiteboarding medal series, Poland’s Izabela Satrjan and Türkiye’s Derin Atakan fought their way out of their respective semi-finals to join the two who had already qualified for the four-rider final.
Lengwiler continued her week-long domination of the competition, the Swiss rider sweeping to victory in first race of the final and sealing the gold medal in imperious style. The two Poles, Damasiewicz and Satrjan, took silver and bronze respectively.
© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Polish joy
Along with Switzerland and Poland, other qualifiers for Paris 2024 in women’s kiteboarding are Türkiye, Austria and Portugal.
In the men, it was another Polish silver and bronze for Maks Zakowski and Jan Marciniak who weren’t quite fast enough to topple Britain’s Connor Bainbridge from the top of the podium. Besides Great Britain and Poland, the USA, Greece and Israel have also qualified for Olympic spots in men’s kiteboarding.
© IKA media/Robert Hajduk: Mafalda Pires De Lima qualified Portugal
