Valentin Bontus: Googling to be a Podium Prospect

That day in The Hague, as Bontus battled his way through all the knock-out rounds of the Medal Series, the rest of the Formula Kite family were gathered round the TV in the beachside café on Scheveningen Beach, cheering on the unexpected progress of their friend. ‘If Valentin can do it, maybe I can do it!’ was the café vibe.

Bontus had taken himself by surprise, as well as his coach and the Austrian Sailing Federation. “My programme was based around the idea of getting to the Games through the Last Chance Regatta. But then I managed to qualify Austria at last year’s Worlds which was way ahead of expectations,” grins Bontus. After a winter of focused training in Fuerteventura, the Austrian has worked hard to prove to himself, and everyone else, that this breakout performance in The Hague was not just a one-off.

A sixth place at the European Championships in Mar Menor, Spain, at the end of March suggests Bontus really has made a permanent step-up to the top level. His attitude and motivation has shifted significantly in the past two seasons. “A couple of years back I was just having fun, not really caring much about results. I mean I wanted to do well, but knew I wasn’t up there with the top guys.” At the 2022 edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Mallorca, after missing out on the medal race by just one spot, he set his sights higher. “It wasn’t until I landed in the top 15 at a major event without my coach that I realised, ‘Okay, I’ve got potential.’”

His journey into the world of kiteboarding began at the age of six, and Bontus became hooked on freestyle and big air. However, an injury in 2020 forced him to reconsider his approach to the sport.

“After I injured my knee, doing tricks became painful with all the hard landings. That’s when I seriously started considering racing,” he says.

“I called the Austrian Federation in the summer of 2021 and said I was interested in aiming for the Olympics. At my first event I had no clue about anything to do with racing. I didn’t even know how to press ‘start’ on my watch, and as for laylines, what were they! I actually Googled ‘laylines’ to find out what the coach was talking about.”

Once he had learned about laylines and every aspect of racecraft, the former freestyler started to get some results. But the real breakthrough came when he switched his foil package from Levitaz to Chubanga. Now, there’s no doubting that Levitaz produces a fast foil; between Slovenian Toni Vodisek’s world title in 2022 and Singaporean Max Maeder’s victory in 2023, Levitaz has taken the past two men’s world championships as well as most of the recent women’s world titles thanks to Daniela Moroz. However, Levitaz has a reputation for being fast but twitchy.

“Before I was always on Levitaz,” says Bontus. “I was struggling on the downwind, with the gybes. I was just crashing here and there. Switching to the Chubanga was a game-changer for me. It just felt right immediately. The downwind was easier, and allowed me to keep up the speed that I always had upwind.”

Getting fourth place at the Worlds was confirmation that Chubanga was the right choice for Bontus’s riding style. “For the foil switch made a difference. Plus the the support from the Austrian Federation was insane. I mean, we have a great, great team behind behind everybody. From the psychologist, physios, boat builders, everything is there to help us succeed.”

Now Bontus is asking himself what is possible between now and the Games in July. “I’m just trying to do my best in every department. If I do everything well, put the right things in place, choose the right gear, I think I have a good chance to to be in the top five or top 10. Getting in the Medal Race is the first goal.”

Bontus believes he can even get to the podium if everything goes his way. But winning the gold, that’s for Max Maeder to lose. “From what we’ve seen, Max is definitely going into the final in at least the top two, probably in first, which gives him a big advantage. But if I could come away with a silver medal, that would be not at all bad.”

While this might seem like a pessimistic approach, to have yielded already to the might of the seemingly unstoppable 17-year-old from Singapore, Bontus says he’s not alone. “I believe everybody thinks about Max like that, and if they don’t say it, they don’t want to say it just because of pride. At the moment Max is unbeatable, it’s clear to see.”

The person that concerns Bontus more than Maeder is his father, his No.1 fan. “I’ve been watching some videos of my dad watching the live streams of our big events and he goes crazy! He said he’ll probably need a doctor by the time of the Games because otherwise he’s going to have a heart attack.”