Luuc Van Opzeeland, new male leader of the Lanzarote iQFOiL Games. Kantor #1 for second day in a row in the women’s fleet
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Final Series begin
Marina Rubicón (Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain), 12 December 2023
Lanzarote always delivers. Today, the second day of the Lanzarote iQFOiL Games saw big waves and wind of about 10 knots which allowed five races for the men’s class which is now led by the current world champion, the Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland, and four for the women, which continues to be dominated by Shanon Kantor.
Luuc Van Opzeelan takes the lead
With the aim of trying to make the most of the wind conditions forecast for the morning, the Race Committee brought the start forward to 10h30 local time. The first to compete were the yellow and blue fleets of the men’s iQFOiL, and they did so by completing a total of five races in course racing format.
While yesterday ended in a three-way tie for the lead between Nicolo Renna (ITA), Nico Goyard (FRA) and Kiran Badloe (NED), the second day saw a shake-up in the overall standings with new athletes now occupying the top three places on the provisional podium.
With two firsts, a fourth, a second, and a seventeenth that becomes his discard, Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland, current world champion of the class, is the new leader of the overall with a total of 14 points and eight points ahead of the second place, Nacho Baltasar (ESP). The Spanish windsurfer had a great day on the waters of Lanzarote today with 4-1-3-6-5, results that allowed him to climb up ten positions in the table and being part of the fight for the last title of the season.
Behind him, third place goes to Joost Vink (NED) with 10-2-5-7-3. Vink is now six points behind Nacho.
Once on shore, Van Opzeeland said “it has been a very good day, we have done five races and for me they have been very good. In the last race the wind was a bit stronger and I got 17th, but it was still a good day and I’m ready to start the final series tomorrow.“
Sharon Kantor still leads women
The women’s fleet added four more races today in which Sharon Kantor once again demonstrated her great potential on the race course. With two new partial victories and two third place finishes, Kantor holds on to the lead and closes the qualifying series with a four point lead over second placed Katy Spychakov, who today assaults second place with three wins, a second and a third.
Behind her, there was also a change in third place with Tamar Steinberg now in provisional bronze after three firsts, a fifth and a discarded eighth.
Britain’s Emma Wilson, who was second yesterday and is now in fourth place one point off the podium, said that “we’ve had four very close races today and it’s been very good. The level is very high because next year there is still a selection for the Olympic Games and everyone is pushing very hard.”
“Lanzarote is a very nice place and we come here every year to train; these days there is very good wind and big waves, so this is definitely a fun place,” she added.
Tomorrow Wednesday, the Lanzarote iQFOiL Games will celebrate the third of the five days of competition. It will also be the first round of the Final Series.
The event is organised by Marina Rubicón and has the collaboration of the Royal Canarian Sailing Federation, as well as the institutional support of Promotur Turismo de Canarias, the Tourism Department of the Cabildo de Lanzarote through the sports product European Sports Destination (managed by SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote), the Yaiza Town Hall and the private entities Dinghycoach, Naviera Armas and Cabrera Medina (Cicar).
Provisional podium. iQFOiL Women. Day 1.
1. Sharon Kantor, 1+1+1+1+1+(3)+2+(3)=7
2. Katy Spychakov, (13)+3+(11)+3+2+1+1+1=11
3. Tamar Steinberg, (25)+3+3+5+(8)+1+1+1=14
… 72 entries
Provisional podium. iQFOiL Men. Day 1.
1. Luuc Van Opzeeland, 1+5+1+2+4+1+(17)=14
2. Nacho Baltasar, 3+(25)+4+1+3+6+5=22
3. Joost Vink, (17)+1+10+2+5+7+3=28
… 88 entries
Full results HERE
