Singapore's Max Maeder finishes second in opening series, moves on to Olympics kitefoiling final

MARSEILLE: World champion Maximilian Maeder moved one step closer to ending Singapore’s wait for a medal at the Paris Olympics after he finished second in the men’s kitefoiling opening series on Wednesday (Aug 7).

This means the 17-year-old automatically advances to the final on Thursday, with a good chance of medalling. 

No races were contested on Wednesday due to poor wind conditions. This meant that Maeder maintained his second position from the day before. He has competed in seven races.

Slovenia's Toni Vodisek joins Maeder in the final after finishing top of the fleet with 12 net points. Maeder ended the opening series with 15. 

In the final, competitors will need three race wins to secure gold.

However, Vodisek begins the final with two race wins and will only need one more to take gold.

Maeder starts the final with one race win and will need two more victories to take gold, while the winning semi-finalists need three race wins.

The final could have anywhere between one to six races depending on weather conditions and results.

The opening series makes use of a low-point system like sailing, where points are awarded based on an athlete’s finishing position. For example, the athlete who wins a race gets one point.

As part of the format, the worst race scores for each competitor can be discarded - depending on the number of races contested in the opening series - and the remaining score forms a competitor’s respective net points.

The overall rankings are calculated by net points.

In May, Maeder successfully defended his kitefoiling world title. 

Last August, the kitefoiler clinched gold in the men's kite event at the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands.

Prior to the Olympics, the Asian Games gold medallist won five