Analysis: Highs and Lows of the Women’s Windsurfing Final

Marta Maggetti of Italy won the Olympic gold medal after a heart-in-mouth climax to the knock-out format of the Women’s Windsurfing competition.

At the end of the first two legs at the downwind end of the race course, Maggetti was lying third in the three-rider final. Emma Wilson of Great Britain was leading with Israel’s Sharon Kantor in hot pursuit. 

All three were foiling in good 14 to 15 knot wind and rolling waves out towards the left-hand side of the race course. Now the big judgement call was when to tack for the layline. Surprisingly, as the backmarker, Maggetti was the first to break away and tack towards the next windward mark.

It was a gamble because if the Italian had tacked too soon, she’d have to do an extra double-tack closer to the windward mark. Meanwhile Kantor was next to tack, and Wilson followed soon after.

As they drew closer to the windward mark, it become increasingly likely that Maggetti’s early tack would pay off. The Italian had seized the lead, Kantor was still in second but Wilson had fallen to a distant third place. 

“The first lap I was close but in third,” explained Maggetti later. “I tacked for the mark before Emma and Sharon so I did less distance on the race course.”

Much as the others tried, they couldn’t close the gap on Maggetti who celebrated as she crossed the finish line and took an Olympic gold medal for Italy.

“It’s amazing, I’m so happy. I wasn’t stressed today. I just wanted the gold,” she said, although Maggetti admitted she had had a little cry after successfully coming through the Semi-Final and knowing she had secured a medal of some colour. “I cried a bit but then I focused and told myself I wanted the gold.”

Emma Wilson was distraught, the bronze medal seemingly little consolation for the loss of a gold that she felt should have been hers. The winner-takes-all format of the iQFOiL racing is a big break with the tradition of accumulated scores across a whole regatta. The new format is much more in line with other new Olympic sports where ‘sudden death’, made-for-TV formats are becoming the norm. 

The British rider admitted that with time, the wounds might heal and she might come to appreciate the bronze medal she had just added to her Tokyo bronze. “Yeah, it will. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week, but for now it really hurts. But I’ll be proud when I get on the podium. 

“The girls I race against are amazing. Marta, I have been racing her since I was eight, she’s an amazing person so I’m really happy for her. But for me, I’m not sure how many times I can go through that format.”

For winning the qualifying phase of the regatta over the previous four days of racing, Wilson’s reward was to earn a place directly through to the Final. But as she pointed out, there are some significant disadvantages to sitting out the knock-out rounds. “I was ahead, then I made a mistake on the layline,” she said. “I hadn’t done a race yet and the other girls had done a race so they knew where the layline was.” It was a critical piece of knowledge that Wilson hadn’t had a chance to gain until it was too late.

Wilson’s unhappiness might be mitigated by what she can do, and has already done, to inspire others. “I hope I can inspire some kids with what I’ve done this week. I feel like I’ve shown you can dominate a sport, so if I can show them that if you work hard and that’s what happens, then that’s a win. I’d love to go home with a gold medal – but it’s just been hard.”

written by Andy Rice