Singapore’s kitefoiling set to soar after Olympic medal win on wave of interest

Picking up the sport after Maximilian Maeder’s bronze medal win is not all smooth sailing due to cost and training factors, kitesurfers say

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Singapore’s Maximilian Maeder celebrates winning the bronze medal in kitefoiling at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:30pm, 13 Aug 2024Updated: 3:32pm, 13 Aug 2024

Kitefoiling has piqued the interest of many Singaporeans following 17-year-old Maximilian Maeder’s bronze medal win at the Paris Olympics, but picking up the sport in the city state is not all smooth sailing, kitesurfers say.

Maximilian, a two-time world champion, became Singapore’s youngest ever Olympic medallist last Friday and the country’s first podium finisher since the 2016 Games in Rio, when swimmer Joseph Schooling won gold in the men’s 100m butterfly.

Kitefoiling, a more advanced form of kitesurfing, uses wind energy from a kite to pull the rider along. Kitesurfing is believed to have been invented in the 1970s but only gained popularity in the 1990s.

The sport featured at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and in 2021, it was announced that kiteboarding would make its Olympic debut in Paris 2024 with the Formula Kite class that utilises hydrofoils.

Since Maximilian won Singapore’s sole medal in the Olympics, interest in the sport has surged in the city state.

Ong Rong Quan, the president of the Kitesurfing Association of Singapore, told This Week in Asia that one kitefoil clinic scheduled for this weekend received 150 sign-ups, compared with fewer than 20 registrations for clinics held before the Olympics.