Maeder and Kampman back on song in Austria

- Six back-to-back races in light winds on Lake Traunsee
- Singapore's Max Maeder wins all six heats, using new generation equipment
- Jessie Kampman returns from a few months away, to lead the women
- Martin Dolenc still doing well on older-generation kite
- Livestreaming of racing on Saturday and Sunday

Max Maeder was back to his winning ways on day two of KiteFoil World Series Austria. Six days short of his 18th birthday, the teenager from Singapore won all six races in light winds on Lake Traunsee in Upper Austria.

“Winning six races back to back, that definitely puts a smile on my face,” said Maeder, recent winner of an Olympic bronze medal at Paris 2024. “There were some gaps on the start line which gave me the space to get out to the left and then tack in a good place. The left seemed to be the place for the best wind and I guess that’s what worked for me.”


© IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: Maeder with his nose in a book

Levitating

With a new generation of equipment permitted in Formula Kite competition for the four-year cycle leading up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, Maeder was racing with the latest iteration of the Flysurfer 21 square metre kite and the R6 version of the Levitaz foil and mast combination. “It feels wonderful to be on this new equipment,” said Maeder. “It’s a bit more efficient, a bit more robust and in some ways easier to ride.”

However Maeder was pushed hard by his long-time training partner Martin Dolenc, the Croatian using the latest generation V4 foil from Chubanga but still flying the tried and tested 23 square metre V2 Flysurfer kite. While Dolenc knows he won’t be able to use anything bigger than a 21 square metre kite for any future Formula Kite competitions like the Europeans, Worlds, or next Olympics, the bigger 23 sqm is still race-legal for the KiteFoil World Series.


© IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: Jessie Kampman back to fast foiling

Old School still Quick

“When the wind was really, really light I had an advantage on Max,” said Dolenc who sits in second place overall. “But he was very fast upwind. I was able to close the gap on him on the downwind legs and overall I’m really happy with how the day went.”
Gian Stragiotti is a young Swiss rider who’s getting better and better by the regatta.

Already a Formula Kite Youth World Champion, Stragiotti’s performance today shows he’s starting to get the measure of the senior fleet. “I’m super happy with today,” smiled the teenager lying in third place overall. “I made some mistakes, choosing the wrong side of the race course sometimes, and it was hard to get out of the start but I managed to go fast and I’m looking forward to pushing harder tomorrow.”


© IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: Tricky moments in the patchy breeze near the windward mark

Further back in the pack is the new Olympic Champion and local hero, Valentin Bontus, who currently sits in eighth overall. He’ll be looking for better in the coming days, as Bontus gets to grips with the new equipment, the same combination of new Levitaz and Flysurfer being used by Maeder at the front of the fleet.


© IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: An array of new colours and new kite designs on the race track

Back to the Good Old Days

Despite taking a few months out of competition Jessie Kampman was right back on form, the French rider leading the women’s standings and sitting in 10th overall in the combined men’s and women’s fleet. “I’m pretty tired after six races,” she smiled with a mix of exhaustion and elation. “My starts were quite bad as I was just getting used to having loads of people around me again, especially with the guys because on average they’re a bit quicker than the girls. So the pack stays quite grouped and it's quite hard to to find a lane where you have fresh air. But as the races went on, I managed to get a few lanes with less dirty air.”

What Kampman appreciated most, however, was a post-Olympic return to the atmosphere of the early days. “It’s really nice to be back on the race course, especially here,” she said. “I think everyone's just having a good time and it's not really competitive, in a way. So when we pass each other on the water we're like talking to each other or laughing and it's a really nice atmosphere.”


© IKA media/ Robert Hajduk: Foiling in Upper Austria

Behind Kampman in the women’s standings are recently Olympic participants, Switzerland’s Elena Lengwiler and Israel’s Gal Zukerman in second and third respectively.

Saturday and Sunday’s racing will be livestreamed directly from the southern shore of Lake Traunsee, and the weather forecast bodes well for some great competition for the final two days of KiteFoil World Series Austria.

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