The 2024 Formula Kite World Championships get underway Tuesday in Hyères with 125 competitors from 36 nations and every continent represented.
Missing will be the latest Team GB selection, Connor Bainbridge. Having grabbed his Olympic spot at the Last Chance Regatta just two weeks ago, Bainbridge was injured in a training incident in Hyères last week and ended up with carbon splinters in his leg.
After completing surgery locally, Bainbridge has gone home to rest up and recover. It’s a sad loss to the event but he will be doing everything to make sure he is back and ready to compete at the Paris Olympics in July.
Leading the men’s fleet will be Singapore’s Max Maeder who has dominated the circuit, winning both the 2023 world title and this year’s Europeans in Spain.
Hoping to take the fight to Maeder will be Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek and France’s Axel Mazella – respectively the silver and bronze medallists at the Semaine Olympique Francaise – and prove they are good enough to take the gold.
In the women, Jessie Kampman missed out on the France Olympic spot to 2023 World Champion Lauriane Nolot, and will be keen to turn the tables here at the 2024 Worlds.
Nolot will want to defend her title to go into the Games on a high, although Team GB’s Ellie Aldridge might have something to say about that.
With foiling kiteboarding set to be the fastest of any Olympic sport this summer, these 35-plus knot athletes are working hard to be at their best for the biggest regatta of their lives.
Racing begins on 14 May, with the riders splitting into qualifying fleets for the first three days of the six-day competition. The final two days will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
British competitors:
Women
Katie Dabson
Eleanor Aldridge
Lily Young
Madeleine Anderson
Men
Arthur Brown
Matti Maini (U21)
Samuel Dickinson (U21)
