Singaporean athlete Maximilian (Max) Maeder made history on August 9 by clinching a bronze medal in kitefoiling, which makes its first appearance at this year’s Olympic Games. His win couldn’t have come at a better time, coinciding with the country’s National Day. It marks Singapore’s sixth Olympic medal in history, ending an eight-year drought since swimmer Joseph Schooling’s gold in the men’s 100 metre butterfly race in 2016.
Max Maeder is already a double world champion in the sport, which sees competitors streak across the ocean on boards pulled by giant kites that can reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometres per hour). At only 17 years old, he is also now Singapore’s youngest Olympic medallist.
The nail-biting final race saw Maeder competing against Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek, Austria’s Valentin Bontus, and Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi at Marseille Marina. It was initially slated to be held on August 8 but had to be postponed due to light winds. Bontus eventually clinched the gold, and Vodisek the silver.
The son of a Swiss father and a Singaporean mother, Maeder has spent parts of his life in Switzerland, Indonesia, Croatia and Singapore, and speaks several languages.
He is the world’s top-ranked kitefoiler despite his tender years, and had been determined to win gold in his sport’s Olympic debut.
“It is important to me that I come and give my best consistently,” Maeder told The Straits Times last month. “There is a condition attached to it — that it should be better than my best that I gave last time.
“And while winning is fine, I absolutely despise losing,” he added.
Maeder learned to kitesurf at the age of six at the hotel and scuba diving centre that his family ran in Indonesia. He was schooled at home, giving him the time to train alongside his education.
Maeder said his kitefoiling career had been helped by the fact that he “didn’t have a traditional upbringing”.
“My parents had the courage to let me learn at home,” he said. “But my father had no intention of letting me tan on the beach. He told me: ‘If you want to do this sport professionally… you are going to have to learn and educate yourself’.”
Maeder has been independent from an early age and he began taking trips to Croatia, where he started training with one of his main rivals, Martin Dolenc. It helped him hone his skills in the adrenaline-fuelled sport, which is said to be the fastest in the Olympics.
For the uninitiated, kitefoiling sees 20 racers all jostling their way around the course, using their skills to master the wind and find the fastest line. Their boards are equipped with hydrofoils that make them look like they are flying over the water.
Speaking to AFP ahead of the final, Maeder knew he did not have much room for error in such a fast and furious sport. “I’m not that far ahead of the others, if at all,” said Maeder, who won gold at last year’s Asian Games.
“At least I don’t think so. It’s very close, they’re right there. I just need to make one tiny mistake and they will be there.”
Swimmer Joseph Schooling remains the only Olympic gold medallist in Singapore’s history, beating Michael Phelps at the 2016 Rio Games. Schooling retired from professional swimming in April 2024.
“You have the capability, as do others, to prove yourself as the best athlete or the fastest at the moment,” Maeder, who is also a keen chess player always thinking about strategy, told The Straits Times. “And as challenging as it may be, the potential lies there and it’s up to you to realise it.”
This story was published via AFP News
(Main and featured image: Clive Mason/ Getty Images)
Singaporean kitefoiler Max Maeder won a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics.
Maeder is 17 years old.
Weightlifter Tan Howe Liang won Singapore's first Olympic medal — a silver — in the lightweight category at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
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