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Eli Liefting has added his name to the growing list of Kiwi windfoilers making waves on the world stage by winning the bronze medal at the under-23 world championships in Switzerland overnight.
Following closely on the impressive performances of Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have at the Paris Olympic Games, 22-year-old Liefting achieved the best result of his fledgling iQFOiL career on Lake Silvaplana. He qualified for the final of the men's medal series, which was ultimately abandoned due to a lack of breeze.
Liefting, who is part of Yachting New Zealand's Aon Fast Track programme, secured third place after navigating his way through the quarterfinal and semifinal in the medal series.
He was pipped only by Italy's Leonardo Tomasini (silver) and Finn Hawkins of Great Britain.
"It's disappointing not to be able to race for the gold medal, as I was feeling good and confident that I could give it a go. But I'm absolutely stoked with this result, as I've been working hard toward it for the last year," Liefting said.
"It was my first time at Silvaplana, which is a really interesting place to sail. It's a small lake with a thermal breeze almost every day. Racing in 12 to 16 knots against 100 other sailors made for some cool racing."
Eli Liefting claimed bronze at the under-23 world championships in Switzerland. Photos / Sailing Energy
Liefting managed top-four results in 12 of his 18 qualifying races and attributes his success to starting well and making good decisions on the racecourse. Having plenty of help from Dutch veteran Kiran Badloe didn't hurt either.
Yachting New Zealand approached the former Olympic and world champion windsurfer to help Liefting and the other Kiwis, including promising female foiler Stella Bilger, in the build-up to the event.
Bilger finished 21st overall in the women's competition, while Blake Hinsley and Charlie Solly were 70th and 100th respectively.
"Kiran has spent a lot of time on the lake and knows the conditions well. Having him share his experience and show us the ropes for four days before the regatta was very beneficial," Liefting said.
Liefting with Italy's Leonardo Tomasini and Finn Hawkins of Great Britain. Photos / Sailing Energy
The success of training partners Armit and Ten Have at their Olympic debuts earlier this month offered extra motivation to do well, he added.
Ten Have finished 10th in the women's competition in Marseille, while Armit narrowly missed out on a medal with his fourth place in the men's event.
"I spent quite a bit of time with Josh in Marseille in the build-up to the Games, and seeing him do so well was inspiring," Liefting said.
"It made me want to push even harder - not only here but also for this next Olympic cycle. We have a really close training group back in New Zealand with Josh and Thomas [Crook], and hopefully, we can keep pushing each other to be better. Having so many windfoilers from our country among the leaders of the international fleet is very cool."
Final results and standings here.
