Fuente info Icarus Sports
Thursday, 27th January 2022
Online Alert: CLOSE AND HIGH-SPEED RACING ON DAY THREE FOR THE MEN
Very close and high-speed races gave an unparalleled show in Lanzarote waters, which allowed the Frenchman Nicolas Goyard to take first place in the men’s category. However, the weather did not allow the girls to compete, so the Andalusian Pilar Lamadrid remained undefeated.
Thursday, January 27, 2022.- The third day of the Lanzarote iQFoil Games began with ideal conditions on the island of Lanzarote, so the 70 competitors in the men’s category managed to compete in two races, both led by French Nicolas Goyard. These two victories have allowed him to snatch the first place in the overall standings from the Dutch Luuc Van Opzeeland, who had a difficult day finishing 12th and 21st and remaining in third place. “I shouldn’t complain about today’s results, especially staying on the top 3, but during the last race I was just a little bit away from Nicolas Goyard in the end, so I have mixed feelings, but overall, it was very good”, said Huig Jan Tak, who took the second place overall.
Both races have been very intense and have been raced at high speed, which has created a very attractive spectacle in the Lanzarote race course. Beyond the sailors in the top 3, the leadership of the men’s category is still undefined. Currently in the top 10 are Matthew Barton (GBR), Sebastian Koerdel (GER), Finn Hawkins (GBR), Sil Hoekstra (NED), Louis Pignolet (FRA), Adrien Mestre (FRA) and Andy Brown (GBR) complete the top ten. From the Spanish team, the Andalusian Fernando Lamadrid has managed to finish in 11th place in the first heat, moving up to 29th position, followed by the Canary Islander Ángel Granda.
After the first two races for the men, it was time for the girls. Worse luck the moment the girls were about to start, the wind dropped, and a rain cloud came over. Resulting in an unstable wind and the girls got sent back to shore. The conditions, unfortunately, remained the same for the rest of the afternoon. As a result, the ladies did not come into action for the second day in a row. “We caught the entire Lanzarote squall, we thought we could do some slalom because the wind had dropped, but finally it dropped too much, so after two hours we were sent ashore,” explained Pilar Lamadrid, who remains unbeatable after winning all the races held in the women’s category.
But with hopefully some slalom racing and the marathon, good for double points, left on the schedule all is still far from decided. The big question tomorrow, Friday, January 28th, will be which riders will get into the top ten and secure their spot for the finals. “Tomorrow it looks like the clouds will go away and we expect the wind to blow from the east, so we will probably do the marathon, a race of about 50 minutes that will count double, plus a few more races to train,” said Pilar Lamadrid.
The final on Saturday, January 29th, will be sailed according to a knock-out system. In the Quarter-Final, the number fourth till the tenth of the overall ranking will race. With only the number one and two of that races proceeding to the Semi-Finals. In that Semi-Final they will battle it out together with the number two and three of the overall ranking for the last two spots in the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, in addition to the numbers, one and two from the semi-finals, the leader in the overall standings will race. The finish order in the Grand Final will be decisive for the distribution of the medals.