The Israeli sailing team will start today (Tuesday) the World Youth Surfing Championship at Lake Sylvaplana, in Switzerland. The Israeli team in the competition includes 31 surfers, of which 12 are included in the Israeli team, and is the largest team in the championship. The competition takes place in two models – IQ Foil 8 (up to age 19) and IQ Foil 7 (categories up to age 17 to 15).
The sailing association in Israel is raising expectations for the championship, in light of the successes of the youth in the model in recent years. “There is an expectation to at least repeat last year’s achievement and return with two medals in the senior category,” says Dan Arnon, the coach accompanying the delegation, “there is depth and talent in the future generation of Israeli surfing and we have to live up to our own expectations.”
Last year, Tamar Steinberg won the sweep championship (victory in all races) on her way to the gold medal. Just a month ago, Steinberg won the World Sailing World Championship in a similar way, and she presented a very high level in the test competitions in Israel. Kafir Gefen and Maya Barel, who finished last year in 1st and 3rd places respectively in the U15 category (up to the age of 15) are also in this year’s delegation.
Lake Silvaplana offers surfing conditions that are very different from the open water surfing that Israeli surfers are used to. It is at an altitude of 1,750 m above sea level and is surrounded by mountains, so the wind regime is relatively constant.
The Israeli team includes the top 12 in the test competitions held throughout the year: Dan Kaufman, Adir Twill, Gur Pereg, Tamar Steinberg, Adi Milo, Daniel Ziv, Kafir Gefen, Almog Rajoan, Shalio Avraham, Romi Kaminer, and Maya Barel. Trainers – Dan Almog and Itamar Rose.
Also in the Israeli delegation: Itai Vardinon, Amir Shanour, Guy Kantor, Ari Dagan, Daniel Tishtash, Alon Partosh, Lidor Toledo, Gad Levy, Tomer Ediran, Omri Ediran, Hila Partosh, Rotem Rasoni, Omer Chen, Yaheli Lin, Rotem Lev Sharid, Ma’ayan Sheinberg, Noam Romer, Shaked Coldcrunch and Nikita Grebchev.
260 sailors from all over the world participate in the championship, who will compete for 5 days in order to be among the top ten, who will advance to the medal races that will be held on Saturday.