Paris 2024 Day 9: Five Things We Learned

History Makers

Whatever happens the rest of this regatta, Valentin Bontus (AUT) and Ellie Aldridge (GBR) respectively have become the first ever male and female riders to win the opening race of a brand new event in Olympic sailing – Formula Kite. No other sport in the summer Games is as fast as these flying machines. Fastest of the day were China’s Qibin Huang in the men, clocking up 36.1 knots and the USA’s Daniela Moroz who got 34.4 knots.

Changing kites between races

Whereas all the other Olympic sailing classes use the same equipment throughout the whole regatta, the kiteboarders have a quiver of four different kite sizes they can choose from. Ranging between 9 and 23 square metres, they choose the smaller kites for strong winds and the biggest kites for lighter winds. Today their caddies (their helpers on the beach) were busy running back and forth helping the riders switch kite size between races as the breeze went up and down in strength.

Mum AND Dad Power

The double mummy team of Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon have already won bronze in the Women’s Skiff and mother of a two-year-old, Marit Bouwmeester (NED) is comfortably leading in the Women’s Dinghy. 

Pavlos Kontides is proving that dads can do it. The father of a three-year-old son had a great day in the Men’s Dinghy, the Olympic silver medallist from Cyprus rising to second overall behind Australia’s Matt Wearn.  

“First, I have to thank my wife for taking care of our little boy, and making sure he’s going the right way and that I can do my preparation without worrying.

“But being a parent helps you understand that in life there are more things than just sailing and that’s the beauty of life. In some ways it takes your mind away [from the pressure of sailing] because when I’m with them, there is not much time to think, you are fully focused on fatherhood duties. And when I’m away from them at a sailing event, sometimes it even feels like a holiday, because I have so much free time.”

From Carrots to Cake

Three years ago in the lead-up to Tokyo, all of our new Men’s Windsurfing medallists were campaigning in the RS:X class. This was a low-riding, non-foiling windsurfer where the target competitive weight was somewhere just about 70kg. It used to be that staying down to weight was a struggle, but with the switch to the iQFOiL windsurfer, the extra power required a lot more muscle, or weight in any form that you can find it. The new Olympic silver medallist Grae Morris says he has been enjoying his desserts this week, although the rest of the Australian team were getting in on his chocolate cake and sticky date pudding, much to his irritation. New Olympic Champion Tom Reuveny said he had to put on more than 20kg for the change of discipline. “I used to try to stay down at 73kg for the RS:X,” said the Israeli. “Now I’m 95 or 96kg, and had to eat a lot of cake to get here.”

Enjoy Yourself!

Spain’s Mixed Dinghy skipper Jordi Xammar, struggling to remind himself to make the most of every moment at an Olympic Games: “At one point I thought to myself: ‘enjoy’, and then answered myself: ‘I can’t!’

written by Andy Rice