SINGAPORE: Maximilian Maeder, who gave the country a gift on National Day this year in the form of a bronze medal from the Paris Olympics for the Men’s Formula Kite event, has won another gold.
Maeder, who turned 18 last month, is Singapore’s youngest Olympic medallist to date. Since that historic win, he has only gone from strength to strength.
On Sept 8, the Singaporean kitesurfer emerged as champion after winning 11 out of 12 races at the Austrian leg of the IKA KiteFoil World Series at Lake Traunsee.
Later that month, he took home his next gold at the 2024 Formula Kite Asian Championships in Daishan, China.
On Oct 5, Maeder made it a three-peat, winning the overall title at the World Series on the final day at Kitefoil World Series Sardinia, in Italy.
And now he’s ended the season with his fourth win in a row.
Maeder won eight of the 13 races at the Formula Kite Youth European Championships in Sardinia on Sunday (Oct 13).
He started off strong on the first day of the event, Oct 9 (Wednesday), winning all four of the races he participated in. According to Singapore Sailing, he dominated the event.
However, as he was not representing a European country, he could not be crowned champion. Nevertheless, he racked up 13 points.
Maeder, the oldest of three brothers, started kiteboarding at the age of six and took up kitefoiling when he was just 10 years old.
In 2018, he won his first competitive tournament in the Formula Kite Asian Championships.
His mother, Hwee Keng, 52, is Singaporean, while his father, Valentin, 60, is from Switzerland. They both work at Wakatobi Dive Resort on the island of Sulawesi, which is part of Indonesia. The two helped build the resort.
His two younger brothers are 15-year-old Karl and nine-year-old Valentin, Jr.
In an interview for 8days earlier this year, Hwee Keng described her oldest son as very kiasu and competitive. She also said that he “disliked the feeling” of losing from the time he was very young.
But Max is not the only champion in the country, as Karl appears to have won the U17 2024 Formula Kite Youth European Championship on Sunday.
/TISG