Olympic Sailing 2024: Vodisek and Nolot rank top in Formula Kite

Another day of light wind meant the women were only on the water long enough to race once, but the men completed two races.

Slovenia’s Vodisek made the most of his outing, winning race six, which was enough to edge him in front of Singapore’s Max Maeder.

Despite finishing fourth in race seven, Maeder was unable to hold onto the top spot, after also placing 11th in the opening race of the day.

Austria’s Valentin Bontus remained third overall, with a 20th placed finish in race seven anchoring his performance.

Switzerland’s Elena Lengwiler began the day top of the Women’s Kite, but dropped out of the top three altogether following a DNS. France’s Lauriane Nolot made the most of the opening, winning the first and only race to move into the lead.

Great Britain’s Ellie Aldridge also received a DNS, but held on to second overall as USA’s Daniela Moroz finished seventh, which was not enough to overtake the British athlete.

Vodisek said: “My girlfriend’s coming soon so that’s going to make everything easier. It’s a bit unfortunate she couldn’t be here before as she brings the best out of me. There’s going to be another level when she turns up and there’ll be an end to the video games.

“Everybody’s putting their best out there, but it’s really fun and I have to say, I’m really enjoying being on the biggest stage in the world.”

Maeder said: “There was an incident so I had to take a penalty turn and from then on it was perhaps not the best race, but it was a thrilling one nonetheless and good that I didn’t get disqualified.

“It’s a privilege to be here. Sometimes the weather doesn’t play well, it’s part of the sport. I think we’re all used to it. Of course, we’d love to go racing.”

Nolot said: “I think I was super focused and even before we started, I saw the wind was dying on one side. I had a good start and it was windy where I went. I think it’s the light wind Olympic Games. Every race matters which is why I’m super focused in every single race.”

Moroz said: “It was very light wind, very tricky survival conditions again. I was happy to make it around and not swim. I had a really good plan in my head and I executed it, but it didn’t end up being the right plan for that race. Off the start I got pinned out going left.”

How it works:

Medals for the Men’s and Women’s Kite will be decided by the cumulative results of the 20 athletes over 16 races. The athlete with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes can discard their worst three finishing positions after they’ve completed 11 or more races.

At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten athletes will qualify for the Medal Series. Those ranked third to tenth compete in the Semi-Finals, going into two groups of four. Those seeded third and fourth after the Opening Series begin the Semi-Finals with two wins, while the fifth and sixth seeds carry over one victory.

The first athlete in each Semi-Final to get three wins qualifies for the Finals. In the four-athlete Final, the top overall seed from the Opening Series begins with two wins, the second seed with one and the two winners of the Semi-Finals start from scratch.

Once again, the first to three wins gets the gold and the remaining medals are awarded based on number of race wins and seeding.