Nacho Baltasar, who debuted in his first Olympic event last summer in Paris 2024, has started the cycle towards Los Angeles 2028 with very good feelings. The 20-year-old from Mallorca ended in sixth position in the Lanzarote Iqfoil Games, where Johan Søe from Denmark and Emma Wilson from the UK were crowned the first champions of the 2025 IQFOIL season, the Olympic Windsurf.
After finishing his participation, Baltasar stated, “It is the first regatta after the Olympics. We were assuming that he could go wrong after a long holiday and get to Lanzarote later for the exams, but we are happy with how everything has come out.” He added, “It has been a complicated medal series, with many gusts and many wind wells. The important thing is that we have started to take the wheel. We have the Spanish championship in Cádiz, which we will attend, and then the Sofia and the World Cup, which are the great goals of this season.”
The medal series were held in difficult conditions, with changing winds from the north of between 10 and 16 knots. The men’s competition was a true test of resistance and skill. Johan Søe, 21, who led from the qualifying series, faced fierce competition but managed to recover from an early fall to win the grand final and take the title.
The Italian Manolo Modena and the Dutchman Kiran Badloe, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020, went to the semifinal, where Frenchman Nicolas Goyard and Nacho Baltasar joined. Modena and Badloe came out victorious, achieving a spot in the grand final where they would face Søe and Nicolò Renna. Nacho Baltasar could not access the grand final and finished in sixth place.
The grand finale began with a lot of action, which allowed Renna to secure the first victory. In the decisive second regatta, Søe kept his composure, took the lead at the Barlovent beacon, and kept it until the goal. Modena finished second in the last regatta, with Renna third and Badloe fourth due to a fall.
Emma Wilson dominates the female fleet
Bronze medalist in Paris 2024, Emma Wilson, agreed to the grand final as leader of the qualifying series. She began with a victory and secured her second triumph in the grand final, enough to claim first place. “I am delighted to start the season with a victory, I am not usually a person with strong winds but the new sail is undoubtedly a good change for the fleet,” she said.
The Israeli Shahar Tibi finished second in the general, followed by the British Isay Watson, who completed the podium.
The Marina Rubicón, headquarters of the Lanzarote Iqfoil Games, is already preparing for the next Olympic sail competition, which will be the Lanzarote International Regatta from February 14 to 23.
Lanzarote podium Iqfoil Games 2025
The male podium consisted of:
1. Johan Søe (DEN)
2. Nicolò Renna (ITA)
3. Manolo Modena (ITA)
The female podium consisted of:
1. Emma Wilson (GBR)
2. Shahar Tibi (ISR)
3. Isay Watson (GBR)