Nolot and Maeder crowned in Hyères as Maggetti and Morris pass iQ test

France’s Lauriane Nolot and Singapore’s Max Maeder won the women’s and men’s kiteboarding (Formula Kite) and Italy’s Marta Maggetti and Australia’s Grae Morris the women’s and men’s windsurfing titles (iQFOiL) as the first four medals of the 57th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères – TPM, the second event of the Sailing Grand Slam series. 

The 8-10 knot sea breeze of Friday was forecast was lighter than forecast and the other finalists tomorrow will wait to see if the westerlies forecast tomorrow to build towards 20 knots by the late morning will arrive. Given the vastly different performances in the different conditions during the week they could be decisive tomorrow.

The iQFOiL and Formula Kite finals format are below*.

Kite Queen and King! 

Lauriane Nolot and Max Maeder were heavy favourites entering finals day and duly delivered in 8-10 knots of breeze in the winner-takes-all final race. After a short delay in the morning the south-westerly sea breeze began to fill in, they launched from the beach in Salins, north of the Hyères sailing area and the racing began. And Hyères experience counted because there were some disturbances caused by the Île de Porquerolles and Giens peninsula as the wind turned from SE to SW. 

Nolot, from down the road in Toulon but raised on the the wind alongside her father and brother, boarding in Hyères, is a local favourite. Maeder, the flying teenager, has been an adopted local since winning here as a beaming 15-year-old. 

Nolot and Maeder have ruled the waves, the chop, the light, the big easterlies and finally the steady sea breeze in Hyères this week. In truly a test of their - and all 10 classes - all-round skills they have dominated from the front or always found a way to pass when they needed. 

Women

1st - Lauriane Nolot (FRA)
2nd - Catalina Turienzo (ARG)
3rd - Lysa Caval (FRA)

As she had all week, Nolot dominated from the front, timing her charge to start line perfectly to lead all the way round the course, putting clear water between herself and the rest and winning the 7-minute race by close to 4 seconds. Argentina’s Catalina Turienzo had to hold off France Lysa Caval, who took bronze, reversing the semi-final, where she finished second to China’s Si Wang.

For Nolot, France’s 27-year-old double world champion (including the Hyères 2024 World Championships) and silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was her second Hyères title after winning in 2023. It also follows her victory in Palma at the beginning of April, meaning she has won the first two Sailing Grand Slam events this season. 

Lauriane Nolot (FRA) 

“I won for France, in France! I couldn't be happier. All the hard work this winter is paying off. After the victory in Palma, and now la Semaine Olympique, I feel super ready for the World Championships. I really wanted this win, and there it is, it's done, it's official. There were so many signs this week that made me feel amazing - even the name of the committee boat, which was called Athos, a reference to my little flight with the Patrouille de France last week (“Athos” is the radio callsign/name used by the Patrouille de France, military aerobatic aircraft and pilots). These have been two dream weeks for me, and I hope it's not over and that we'll continue this winning streak all the way to the World Championships.”

Men

1st - Max Maeder (SGP)
2nd - Riccardo Pianosi (ITA)
3rd - Qibin Huang (CHN)

For the 19-year-old Singaporean, Max Maeder, also a double world champion (also winning his second world title at the 2024 World Championships in Hyères), and bronze medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, this was also his second Hyères title after winning in 2022. And again mirroring Nolot, he won in Palma at the beginning of April.  

Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi, the SOF 2025 champion and second to Maeder in Palma, took silver after being his most consistent challenger all week. China’s Qibin Huang took bronze from Switzerland’s Gian Stragiotti, who had beaten him in the semi-final but finished fourth and last in the final. 

Max Maeder (SGP)
iQFOiL (men’s & women’s windsurfing)*

If the kiteboarding finals went to form, the iQFOiL finals saw more drama in both the women’s 
and men’s event.

Women

1st - Marta Maggetti (ITA)
2nd - Tamar Steinberg (ISR)
3rd - Zheng Yan (CHN)

Italy’s Olympic champion, Marta Maggetti, 30, had jumped into second on Thursday and won the final to beat Israel’s Tamar Steinberg, who had been going for a Hyères three-peat. Maggetti reversed the result from Palma, where she had finished second to Steinberg. 

Steinberg, the Palma champion and SOF 2024 & 2025 champion, had led the leaderboard all week but could only finish fourth in the final. She took silver because she entered the final with a point over the semi-final qualifiers. China’s Zheng Yan beat New Zealand’s Stella Bilger to take bronze. 

Marta Maggetti (ITA)

“It was a crazy one, I wasn’t planning to fight like this with Tamara. We were all stressed, I gave  a penalty to her because you want to push in the last one and it’s part of the job. I’m happy that I kept focused because I wasn’t in a good position at the start. Super happy about the week, there were two light wind days on the first and second days and then it was strong so we sailed with everything. Really glad to be here, it’s a great spot!”

Men

1st - Grae Morris (AUS)
2nd - Federico Alan Pilloni (ITA)
3rd - Kun Bi (CHN)

Australia’s Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, Grae Morris won the hardest way of all after both he and China’s 2025 SOF champion, Kun Bi messed up the start. Seeing that Bi was not going to win, he decided not to finish and conserve energy for the second race. Italy’s Federico Alan Pilloni went on to win. 

Morris, who finished 12th in Palma, then won the second race and Pilloni won his battle with Bi, to win silver with Bi taking bronze. 

Grae Morris (AUS)

“It was an awesome day today, the wind filled in quite nicely. In my first attempt at the finals I was over along with Kun Bi and so we had to start five seconds late. I tried my best to catch up but couldn’t quite make it, so got a bit of rest. For the second attempt, Nicolo Renna and I had a battle for the first place and I just managed to take it away. Overall, super fun racing, super tight.”

QFOiL and Formula Kite finals format
The top 10 on the overall leaderboard qualify.
Quarter Finals: Competitors ranked 6th through 10th compete in one race. The top two qualify for the semi-finals.
Semi-Finals: The 3rd, 4th and 5th ranked competitors and the top two from the quarter-finals.
Finals: The top two from the semi-finals (with 0 points) and the leader and second-place finishers in the overall standings.
The winner is the first athlete to reach a total of 2 points.

The other six fleets (470, Nacra 17, 49er, FX, ILCA 6, ILCA 7), Saturday finals  
The top ten in the standings will compete in the Final, where they will run two races. The points earned in the two races are added to the points accumulated during the final stages. The winner is the athlete with the fewest points.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)

The podium at the moment looks the same as Palma, but there is still all to play for. Spain’s Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara still lead but were not so dominant in the calmer conditions as they had been in the big easterlies mid-week. They finished second and fourth in the two races, and still have a significant advantage. But Italy’s Giacomo Ferrari & Alessandra Dubbini showed the skill they had in the light winds on Monday and Tuesday to win both races and move back into contention in fourth. Britain’s Martin Wrigley & Bettine Harris were fourth and then third to stay in second overall, with France’s Matisse Pacaud & Lucie de Gennes in third. 

Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)
A new leader and plenty of pressure tomorrow at the top of the Nacra leaderboard. Argentina’s Mateo Majdalani & Eugenia Bosco won the second and third races of the four yesterday to displace the Italians Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei, who had won the first race but then had a tougher time. But they were third in the last to make the gap just two points. 

Everything looked over for Italy’s double Olympic champions, Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti, after they followed their gennaker tack breakage on Thursday by finishing 16th in the first race. But they came storming back in true champion fashion, to finish third twice and then win the final race. The Argentinians could only finish 13th. That took Tita & Banti back to fourth overall just behind the French duo of Tim Mourniac & Aloïse Retornaz,

49er (men’s and women’s double-handed skiff)
Women’s FX

The Italians love the light! As they had on the first two days of the week, Italy’s Sofia Giunchiglia & Giulia Schio dominated on Friday, winning three of the four races, to retake the lead. If they had not finished 17th in the third race they would have a more significant lead over Australia’s Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot, who struggled as the racing went on, finishing 2, 4, 13, 11. Some way behind them another four boats are closely bunched, but the conditions may be decisive on Saturday. 

Men’s 49er 

Big numbers all through the top of the leaderboard as the duos struggled in the conditions. China’s Zaiding Wen & Tian Liu are the new leaders, with the most consistent 8, 3, 4 finish. Some double digits saw France’s Erwan Fischer & Clément Péquin drop to second and Ireland’s Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove to third with gaps throughout the top 10 contracting to leave the podium open. 

ILCA 6 and 7 - (women’s & men’s solo dinghy)

The leaderboard for women’s dinghy is as ever-changing as the men’s is constant and the ILCA 6 were by far the latest to finish of all the fleets on Friday adding to the drama. 

ILCA 6 

A second place finish in a complicated and late second and final race of the day saw Ireland’s Eve McMahon, the champion in Palma, finish back at the top of the leaderboard. She is just two points ahead of the 2024 SOF champion, USA’s Charlotte Rose, who came unstuck and finished 28th. But with big numbers all round a gap has opened below them after the Netherlands’ Maxime van de Werken-Jonker followed victory in the first race with 20th in the second. 

ILCA 7 

Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, won the first race of two yesterday and goes into the final tomorrow in dominant form and position. Wearn was one of a few disqualified in a complicated second race and Britain’s Michael Beckett was fifth to stay in contention and pull away from his British rival, Elliot Hanson, who was also disqualified. Hanson stays third and those immediately behind were not able to close the gap.