Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder wins Singapore’s first gold medal at Asian Games
NINGBO: World champion kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder won Singapore’s first gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Wednesday (Sep 27).In his Asian Games debut, the 17-year-old topped all 16 races in the lead-up to the final of the men's formula kite event.
The final that Maeder would have featured in was called off on Wednesday due to weak winds, meaning the Singaporean teenager took home the gold medal.
Maeder has been in sizzling form this year. Last month, the kitefoiler clinched gold in the men's kite event at the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands.
His results at the event also meant that he confirmed a quota spot for Singapore at the 2024 Paris Olympics. A quota place guarantees that an athlete from Singapore will be competing in the event at the Olympics.
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Earlier in the day, Victoria Chan added to the sailors’ impressive medal tally after she took a bronze in the Women’s ILCA 6 event. Chan’s medal race was also cancelled.On Tuesday, there were two silvers and two bronzes for Singapore, courtesy of Justin Liu and Denise Lim (Nacra 17) and Isaac Goh (boys' ILCA4) as well as Keira Carlyle (girls' ILCA4) and the duo of Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low (women's 49erFX).
At the last Asian Games in 2018, the Singapore sailing contingent won one gold and one bronze. Team Singapore finished with four golds, four silvers and 14 bronzes across all sports in that edition.
Singapore's first medal at this year's Asian Games came from wushu exponent Kimberly Ong, who clinched bronze in the women's changquan event.
