Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder shows mental mettle to win third straight youth world championships title

SINGAPORE – Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder is one of the sport’s brightest prospects and perhaps one of the main reasons behind the Singaporean’s success is his drive to improve.

Maximilian may have worn a bib with the number 88 – considered lucky in Chinese culture – at last week’s Formula Kite Youth World Championships, but a stellar performance that saw him clinch his third consecutive title at the event was not simply down to luck.

In Gizzeria, Italy, the 16-year-old put to test a new method of “mental calibration” that worked wonders as he triumphed on Sunday, ahead of China’s Huang Qibin and Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi.

It was something that he had started to try out after the Paris 2024 test event in Marseille earlier in July.

With two weeks until the Sailing World Championships at The Hague – the first qualifying event for the Paris Olympics – Maximilian felt the youth worlds was the perfect opportunity to test this new mental approach in a competitive environment.

He said: “Like any competitor, one gets nervous, doubts... things that could get in the way of any sort of performance delivery.

“Basically, it’s all about not letting your mind get clouded by any sort of distractions around you, be it competitors, your own feelings, or whatever else it may be and just tuning in on laser focus to do what you intend to do and not care if it’s good or not and only question what you did afterwards.”

The teenager explained that he maintained this focus by constantly talking to himself to ensure that he was in the right headspace.

He added: “The most important thing for me was to bring the performance that I trained for and be happy with what I can deliver and I’ve done that. It’s not the results, but the performance that I can deliver on the water with how I manage difficult situations and how I utilise opportunities.”

That was especially important as he felt that this competition was tougher than previous editions.

Even as Maximilian had qualified for the medal series first with 13 nett points by winning all but one of his 16 races, he noted that it was a much more even playing field this time.

He said: “It’s not only me against a couple of opponents or a single opponent, everyone was fighting all the time. Not only did a couple of people have the chance to win, it was truly a lot more people in the fleet who had a chance to get up there on the podium.”

Maximilian believes that his experiences at the Paris test event and last week’s regatta in Italy are good preparation for the upcoming Aug 8-20 world championships. The top eight finishers earn a spot at the Summer Games.

The world No. 7 plans to take a short break before resuming training in Croatia. He said: “It sets me up well and it’s a good thing to be here, to gain experience and have the ability to see if there’s anything left to improve or change before the worlds and keep it the same as you have trained in the worlds.”

Singapore Sailing Federation’s head of high performance and coaching Chung Pei Ming said: “Every race is a valuable experience point clocked. We are a year out from the Olympics and it is very promising for Max to keep delivering podium performances.”