At the end of August, 260 young people from 32 countries gathered in Silvaplana to compete in the iQFoil Junior and Youth World Championships, the new Olympic support from 2024. A great start for the Foil Mania Racing Team before concluding its season in early November with the European Championships in Brest.
Text: Marion Froidevaux & Quentin Mayerat
“It was so moving to see all these young people at the opening ceremony – the future of windsurfing is here! In the 22 years I’ve been organizing the Engadinwind, this is the best edition ever!” summed up Christian Müller, the conductor of this major windsurfing event. Switzerland was well represented, with a team comprising two youngsters in the U19 category, six in the U17 category and two in the U15 category. Eight of the team members come from the Neuchâtel Funboard Team, based in St-Blaise (NE), while the other two, Robin and Devin, hail from the Zurich region. The Swiss team, under the name of Foil Mania Racing Team (see article pp. 26-28), benefited from a week’s training before the start of the competitions, as well as the support of coach Fabio Fumagalli during the championship.
What were their objectives?
Several members of the team are part of the Swiss Sailing Talent Pool and have benefited from several training camps and regattas in the run-up to this world event. A lot of progress was made and some superb results were achieved in the run-up, such as Noam Kobel’s second place and Robin Zeley’s 16th place at the iQ Games in Torbole at the beginning of August. Expectations were therefore high for this World Championship. “The level is higher than in Torbole! The guys are really hot! All the best were there in Silvaplana”, declared young Noam Kobel.
For others, the primary objective was to have fun, gain experience and rub shoulders with the other competitors. For Ernestine, 13, this is the memory that will stay with her from this week: “It was really cool, but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough wind every day, but it was very interesting to see the level of the other girls my age!”
Two Swiss in the world Top 20
After several days of racing in conditions somewhat disturbed by the northerly wind, the youngsters were all able to validate their heats on different formats: race racing and slalom. After two days of racing, Robin Zeley and Noam Kobel managed to climb to the top of the rankings and join the Gold Fleet for the rest of the week. After four race and four slalom
four slalom heats, the pair finished neck and neck, Robin Zeley 18th and Noam Kobel 19th.
