Young racers step into the foil racing scene.
241 junior and youth riders took part in the first official iQFOiL Youth & Junior World Championships on Lake Garda, Italy.
Racers from the age of eleven and up impressed the world with incredible performance and helped solidify the iQFOiL Youth and Junior class as a high performance foil racing offering for young competitors with equipment specifically designed for the purpose.
With the arrival of foiling, racing in windsurfing has changed. Competitions can be held in a much bigger variety of conditions, as well as, locations.
With the success of the iQFOiL class, it is evident that foil racing is here to stay. iQFOiL will be the official equipment for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and for a high level performing fleet, you also need the right feeder class for young talent to thrive and develop.
With the arrival of the iQFOiL Youth & Junior class, there is now unprecedented access for kids of a very young age to get a taste of the “real thing”, and if the first ever official World Championships in this class is any indication, the future looks bright. Over 240 well prepared racers under the age of 19 signed up for this historic to set an extremely high bar from day one.
Nations across the world are already gearing up to accommodate this class to take full advantage of its potential. After five days of racing, France had already solidified its dominance with three of the four gold medals available being won by French riders; Gaspard Carfanten and Manon Pianazza won gold in Youth (U19) Men and Youth Women respectively. In the Junior (U17) fleet, Tamar Steinberg from Israel took the win in the women’s fleet while yet another French rider Elliot Ponce-Baranski won the men’s fleet.
France, however, was not the only forceful nation with Italy, France, Israel, and many other countries bringing forward big talent.
Podium results
The 2021 iQFOiL Youth & Junior worlds has shown that young racers are very capable of harnessing the power of foiling, as well as, managing high tech equipment around a racecourse. Looking at the bigger picture, windsurfing now offers the best pathway for kids to enter the world of foil racing out of all sailing classes.
Top 3 results are as follow;
Youth women
1st. Manon Pianazza FRA-712
2nd. Sofia Renna ITA-25
3rd. Mika Kafri ISR-365
Youth men
1st. Gaspard Carfantan FRA-379
2nd. Nacho Baltasar Summers ESP-388
3rd. Bernat Tomas ESP-339
Junior women
1st. Tamar Steinberg ISR-16
2nd. Tuva Oppedal NOR-29
3rd. Linda Oprandi ITA-4
Junior men
1st. Elliot Ponce-Baranski FRA-30
2nd. Federico Pilloni ITA-286
3rd. Vidar Nystrom SWE-28
Junior Equipment
The iQFOiL Junior class equipment features the Severne FGO sail. A rig specifically designed for young racers to be able to enjoy foil racing from a very early age.
The lightweight FGO 5m2, 6m2, and 7m2 sails cover a wide weight range, wind range and comes from Severnes’ world-leading development program.
The FGO offers a huge trimming range, excellent cam rotation, and reinforcements in vital stress areas.
The FGO works great on foil and fin.
The lightweight RDM Blue mast has a 90% carbon content for extra durability and optimum reflex.
The boom is a V grip design aluminium monocoque design – perfect for smaller hands. 40% stiffer than a traditional round aluminium boom and with unmatched durability.
The U17 division can use the 5.0, 6.0, or 7.0 (up to two sizes) so depending on your weight and skill you will be able to choose the right sail size for you.
Youth equipment
The iQFOiL Youth class features the Severne HGO foil racing sail with an Apex mast and the specifically designed GO-186-236 boom.
The Severne HGO is a first of its kind. A foil racing sail built especially for the official iQFOiL class. HGO is based on Severne’s already successful foil racing platform with multiple titles under its belt.
Countless hours of R&D and brainstorming resulted in a sail that not only will you faster on the racecourse but also deliver top speeds. The HGO focuses on speed and ease of handle with a reduced luff curve and re-distribution of shaping. The control gained from these design features allows for any foil racing newcomer to get to competition level speeds in no time.
How to find out more
Click here to visit the iQFOiL Youth and Junior class facebook page for the most up to date images from the recent event on Lake Garda and future events
Click here to visit the iQFOiL Youth and Junior class page.
Click here to visit the iQFOiL equipment page.
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