By Alexander Smith
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – Kiteboarding made its Olympic debut on Sunday, with the men and women taking off to cheers from the beach in Marseille on featherweight foiling boards, their huge arching kites powered by an at times lively Mediterranean breeze.
With a quick-fire race format, crowds lining the breakwaters were rewarded with a colourful exhibition by the world’s best in the adrenaline-filled sport.
Austria’s Valentin Bontus won the first Olympic race for the sport in the men’s event, with Britain’s Eleanor Aldridge taking the honours in the women’s as the kite sailors sped by, protected by helmets, goggles, life vests and wetsuits.
World champion Max Maeder from Singapore grabbed a win in the second men’s race as France’s Lauriane Nolot made her mark on the 16-race women’s series with a popular local victory.
Further out on the bay off Marseille, Italy’s Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti tightened their grip on the mixed foiling multihulls, with further wins in their series. The New Zealand duo of Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson also showed good speed to record a couple of seconds in their big ‘cat’ multihull.
Elsewhere, in the men’s dinghies there were swings at the top of the leaderboard, with eight of the 43 men penalised for being over the line at the start for race 7 in their series.
Britain’s Micky Beckett was one of those who felt the pain, dropping to fourth overall, while Australia’s Matt Wearn managed to hang on to his overall lead despite two 10ths.
“He’s got two very difficult races to navigate, so far he is doing reasonably well and has been by far the most consistent. But every day has its curve balls and tomorrow won’t be any different,” Beckett said when asked if Wearn was catchable.
The remaining two races in the pre-medal series are scheduled for Monday, with veteran Pavlos Kontides from Cyprus closest to Wearn on points, ahead of Peru’s Stefano Peschiera.
“I would describe it as a rollercoaster of emotions,” said Peschiera when he returned ashore.
“The whole fleet are pushing the limits … You know you need to stay cautious and not make bad mistakes.”.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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