S'pore kitefoiler Max Maeder finishes 3rd in 2nd day of Paris Olympics Men's Kite, joint top in rankings

Singaporean world champion kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder, 17, placed third out of 20 at the Olympics' Men's Kite on Aug. 5.

He finished third in the first few races, netting him 8 points.

Combined with the Aug. 5 performance, he now has a total of 11 points.

This was enough to place him joint top in the rankings, out of 20 racers.

Fight for the finals

Kitefoilers compete in 16 races in the opening series, where they are given points each round.

A lower total score means a better overall placement.

The first and second-ranked boats of the opening series for men's kite will progress directly to the final on Aug. 8.

Boats ranked third to tenth will progress to the semi-finals, where they will be split into two groups based on their standing.

The winner of each semi-final will advance to the finals.

Due to the difficult wind conditions at Marseille, France, Maeder and the others only competed in one race on Aug. 5.

World champion

Maeder is scheduled to compete in the next round of races on Aug. 6 at 12:03pm (6:03pm SGT).

The kitesurfer has twice clinched the world champion title and won a gold medal in last year's Asian Games.

On Jul. 6, he was granted a full-time National Service (NS) deferment until after the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

This August marks the teenager's Olympic debut.

Top image from Jeremy Lee/SportsSG