Kiteboarding's Olympic debut

In August 2024, twelve years after it was voted out of the Rio Games, kiteboarding raced at the Olympics. The venue was the Marseille Marina, and the class was Formula Kite, on hydrofoil boards.

The wind did not cooperate. Of the sixteen planned opening races, the women sailed six and the men seven; the rest were cancelled for lack of wind. The ten best went on to a medal series of semi-finals and a final, in which the first to win three races took the gold, and the leader of the opening series started with two wins already credited.

The women’s final was sailed on 8 August. Ellie Aldridge of Great Britain started one credited win behind Lauriane Nolot of France, won both races sailed and took the gold three wins to two; Annelous Lammerts of the Netherlands took bronze. The men’s final was postponed for lack of wind and finished on 9 August. Valentin Bontus of Austria won gold, Toni Vodišek of Slovenia silver and Maximilian Maeder of Singapore bronze.

The same waters also saw windsurfing’s first Olympic races on the foiling iQFoil.