Surprising finals at the IQGames Cadiz 2023…

American Noah Lyons and PolishZofiaNoceti (Open), Polish Aleksandra Wasiewicz and MichałMaziarka (U19), Italian Federico Alan Pilloni and Sofia Renna (U21), Turkish Artun Senol and Spanish Caterina Tomas (U17) and Spanish Jordi Cerda and Italian Medea Marisa Falcioni (U15), take home gold in the Bay of Cadiz.

American Noah Lyons and Polish Zofía Noceti (Senior), Polish Aleksandra Wasiewicz and Michał Maziarka (U19), Italian Federico Alan Pilloni and Sofía Renna (U21), Portugues Martim Mendes and Spanish Caterina Tomas (U17) and Spanish Jordi Cerdá and Italian Medea Marisa Falcioni (U15), are the champions of the International iQFOil Games Andalucía. It was the second year the iQFOiL Internation Games landed in the bay of Cadiz for an event, which came to an end today after a very surprising medal series, for the senior and U19 fleet. The U17 fleets continued in the open series where they managed to do 3 more races on the final day

The final series exist out of 2 elimination series races and 1 final which decide on who wins the event. Only the top 10 is allowed to race in the medal series and the number 1 ranked has a guaranteed spot in the final making him/her ensured of the podium.

Among the men, the gold medal went to the American Noah Lyons after winning in the final against the French athlete Adrien Mestre and the Italian Federico Alan Pilloni. Mestre’s winning streak has seemed to come to an end at a very unfortunate time as he came second in the all-or-nothing final. Lyons had to work his way through both the quarter and semi- finals but managed to advance every single time. In the Semi, it looked like the American's Journey came to an end as he went over the line first and a general recall horn was sound. After careful evaluation by the race committee no one was found over early, and all sailors could continue racing for a spot in the final. Together with Lyons it was the U21 Italian Pilloni that made it into the final to put up a fight with Mestre. Mestre started of strong with a good start but gybed to late in the downwind after which Noah Lyons took his opportunity to overtake the Frenchman. Closing in towards the finish line Mestre managed to get very close to overtaking but the final reach was not enough for him to take over the lead.

There was also a surprise in the women's fleet, where the Polish Zofia Noceti won after beating her teammate and defender of first place, Maja Dziarnowska, who came second. The Italian Sofia Renna came 3rd, with this result the italian crowned herself the U21 title, leaving the Czech Kristyna Pinosova and the Estonian Emma Viktoria Millend behind her in 2nd and 3rd.

In the U19 men it was Polish Stanislaw Trepczynski leading the fleet into the medal series, but he had to lay the win off to teammate Michał Maziarka who managed to win the final race. Trepczynski had to settle for second place while the Latvian Davis Mazais came third.

For the U19 women it was Polish Aleksandra Wasiewicz that managed to keep her cool and finish an incredible week of in style with a first place. The Polish was followed by the Spanish Bárbara Winau who had a very close photo finish with Polish Karolina Gajdzinska who finished 3rd after rewatching the finish line video.

The U17 fleets continued today with the open series after not having finished enough races to start a medal series. In the boy's category it was Portuguese Martim Mendes that took the win after the leader of yesterday (Artun Senol) did not make it in time to the starting line for the first race. Local windsurfer Antonio Medina took 2nd place followed by Polish windsurfer Gustaw Trybek

In the girl's category it was Balearic Caterina Tomas Cardell that wins the event after a (by her words) not so good day after sailing 2nd places and a first place in the slalom races. The Spanish Tomas Cardell has set the bar this week by sailing a nearly perfect streak of races in the U17 girl's category. Finishing off the podium are the Italian Medea Marisa Falcioni and Spanish Azul Sánchez Vallejo in 2nd and 3rd.

In the U15 it was the Italian Medea Marisa Falcioni that won the girls category, while in the boys it was the Spanish Jordi Cerdà Alorda winning the event.

After the regatta the prize-giving ceremony was held in the Patio de Ceremonias of the Andalusian Sailing Federation.