July 8, 2022
2 minutes reading time
13th December. 2021 Youth Sailing World Championships presented by Hempel, Al Mussanah. Sultanate of Oman. The first day of racing in the Formula Kite fleet (Photo by Lloyd Images/ Oman Sail)
When the Apprentices are also the Masters
This year sees foiling windsurfing join the Youth Worlds for the first time in the 51-year history of the event. Last year saw the introduction of Male and Female categories in Kiteboarding Formula Kite, and now in The Hague we will witness Male and Female competitors flying above the water in Windsurfing Youth iQFOiL. The move to more foil-borne events mirrors the developments seen in Olympic competition over the past year since the Tokyo 2020 Games.
These disciplines are so new in the sailing world that there are few competitors at senior level over the age of 30. Just as teenagers dominated the podium when skateboarding made its debut Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020 a year ago, it’s quite possible that teenagers will win medals in these new foiling disciplines at the next Olympic Games in two years’ time.
Last year’s silver medallist in the female kitefoiling division, Julia Damasiewicz (POL) is back to see if she can get to the top of the podium in The Hague. Having won the most recent Kitefoiling World Series event in Traunsee, Austria, the 18-year-old Polish rider broke the incredible winning streak of 32 consecutive international regatta wins over the last six years by five-time Formula Kite World Champion Daniela Moroz (USA). Damasiewicz will surely be hard to beat in Scheveningen, although last year’s youth bronze medallist from France, Héloise Pegourié, has also displayed world-beating form at times this year.
While it’s common to see winners of medals at Youth Worlds go on to win Olympic medals some five or ten years later in their career, it’s quite possible that some of the medallists from The Hague will be standing on the Olympic podium in Paris just two years from now.
by Andy Rice, event reporter for World Sailing.