Paris 2024: Women's windsurfing topped by Great Britain's Emma Wilson
by World Sailing 29 Jul 10:40 PDT
28 July - 8 August 2024
Emma Wilson (GBR) on July 29 in Marseille at the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta © World Sailing / Jean-Louis Carli
Tokyo bronze medallist Emma Wilson opened her Paris 2024 campaign with two accomplished performances, finishing first and second to move to the top of the Women's Windsurfing rankings.
All iQFOiL races were postponed yesterday due to light wind and after two races today, persisting light winds prevented any further action.
Italy's Marta Maggetti made the most of her time on the water, banking two top five finishes to edge to second overall.
The third spot was filled by Peru's Maria Belen Bazo German who also managed to clock two top five finishes in the early action.
Emma Wilson said: "There were pretty light winds. I like every condition, but we've trained a lot in this condition and I just got off the start line well and had a good speed. It makes your life easier if you do that.
"It was nice to go windsurfing. It was frustrating [dealing with light winds] but it happens a lot. We have to have wind to go windsurfing so it's just part of the game.
"I think we're going to get a bit more wind tomorrow so that should be fun."
Marta Maggetti said: "We waited a lot yesterday so finally we raced today. I'm happy because I managed all my adrenaline and I'm happy about the start. I'm super excited, I was feeling fast and mentally feeling good."
Maria Belen Bazo German said: "It was really nice. I like light wind conditions, I felt confident with my speed and it went really well.
"I came here to enjoy this experience and that's what I'm doing. It's going well on the water, but despite that I'm trying to enjoy every moment.
"I just want to keep doing the same - keep calm and focusing on myself."
How it works:
Medals for the windsurfing (iQFOiL) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 24 athletes over 20 races. The athlete with the lowest total will rank first.
There are three race formats - the Marathon Race, Slalom and Course Racing. Because it's a longer 60-minute race, the Marathon will be scored as two races.
Athletes will be able to discard their worst three finishing positions after they've completed 16 or more races.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten athletes will qualify for the Medal Series. Those ranked fourth to tenth compete in a Quarter-Final, with the top two reaching the Semi-Final.
They will then face the athletes that finished second and third in the Opening Series. Two will progress from the Semi-Final, joining the top overall athlete in the Final.
The three athletes in the Final are all guaranteed a medal, so the finishing order in the Final race will determine who wins what medal.
Follow the Paris 2024 sailing action via the dedicated World Sailing website: paris2024.sailing.org