Kitesurfing, the fastest sport at the Paris Olympics, hits the water in Marseille
Switzerland's Elena Lengwiler leads the pack, with Marseille's Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica in the background, during a women's kite race, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Marseille, France. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
MARSEILLE, France — The sky in front of the Marseille marina filled with kites Sunday afternoon.
Kitesurfing — the fastest sport at the Paris Games — had arrived at the Olympics.
“It’s a fresh gust of emotions, of feelings, of thoughts,” said Max Maeder, 17, of Singapore.
The athletes go so fast — they can reach 80 kilometers (nearly 50 miles) per hour — that Maeder had cuts in his wetsuit from hitting a kite that fell in front of him during Sunday’s racing.
He called the men’s fleet in the new sailing class technically known as Formula Kite “completely jampacked, and tight, and cutthroat.”
So is the women’s competition, with Britain’s Ellie Aldridge, 27, and France’s Lauriane Nolot, 25, vying for gold with six-time world champion Daniela Moroz, 23, of the United States.
“It’s almost those first-day-of-school jitters, the first Olympics,” Moroz said after ending what she called a “very, very tricky” day with a race win.
Colombia's Victor Alfonso Bolanos Lopez flies in the air lifted by his kite on completing a men's kite race, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Marseille, France. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
The wind kept shifting, so kitesurfers kept returning to shore to change kite sizes between races, including Aldridge, who won the very first race in the new sport.
“The wind didn't stop playing,” Nolot said.
Kitesurfing’s final races, scheduled for Thursday, will close sailing for these Games that have seen fickle winds as well as high heat try athletes’ physical and mental endurance over multiple regattas held for several days.
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