2025 iQFOiL Youth & Junior World Championships - Day 5
by iQFOiL Communications 30 Jul 07:51 NZST
24-31 July 2025
The fifth day of the 2025 iQFOiL Youth & Junior World Championships finally brought the conditions everyone was waiting for in the Bay of Brest.
With stable breeze and flat water, all divisions hit the racecourse hard, completing multiple Upwind Sprint Races that reshuffled the leaderboards and set the stage for a dramatic final push.
In the U19 Men, three intense races allowed the fleets to split into Gold and Silver for the final day before the Medal Series. Peleg Rajuan (ISR 851) remains at the top after a perfect day, winning every one of his heats. He's tied on points with Mattia Saoncella (ITA 830), who also won two of the three races. In third sits Kylian Manhaval (FRA 1908), continuing his charge with two bullets of his own.
The U19 Women completed two Upwind Sprints and one Slalom Sprint. Medea Falcioni (ITA 57) showed no signs of slowing down, firmly holding the lead she's carried since the early days of the regatta. Emma Schleicher (GER 162) climbed into second place thanks to her consistent form and a race win to cap off the day, while Francesca Maria Salerno (ITA 9) remains solid in third.
Over in the U17 Boys, it was all about endurance, with four Upwind Sprint races on the schedule. The Dutch team continues to dominate, but the leaderboard saw a shakeup. Milo Zaal (NED 303) now leads the fleet, ahead of Peyton Dits (NED 241) and Merlijn Boswijk (NED 244), who climbs into third after winning three of today's races.
"Three bullets today, so I am super happy especially because it is a World Championship," said a thrilled Milo Zaal. "It was an amazing day, tricky, but with nice wind and lots of upwind sprints. I think consistency paid off. I made no mistakes, and if I can keep this up in the Gold Fleet tomorrow, that would be fantastic."
In the U17 Girls, Parla Kabasakal (TUR 3504) takes the lead over Naama Palatnik (ISR 890), although the two are still tied on points, making for an exciting head-to-head finish. Closing the gap fast is Ruya Ugurlu (TUR), now in third place after a strong performance today.
"I'm really happy about my last race, it was super light and I had to pump a lot, but I made it," said Ruya Ugurlu. "The first two races weren't great, I had a bad start and then made an early gybe battling with my teammate, but I'm in third overall, so I'm satisfied."
As we head into the final series tomorrow, the top 8 competitors in each fleet will be determined ahead of the Medal Series showdown on Thursday. With everything still to play for, stay tuned to see who makes the cut for the final dash to the podium!
Find out more on the event website here.