Israel's Tamar Steinberg and the Netherlands' Luuc van Opzeeland are the 2026 iQFOiL world champions. The titles were decided on Saturday (12) in a fast, decisive Medal Series on the final day of racing in Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain, a traditional home of Olympic sailing.
iQFOiL is the windsurfing class used at the Olympic Games, raced on foiling boards that make the sailor literally fly above the water. Over the past days, the Worlds gathered 186 athletes from 41 nations at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, who faced virtually the full spectrum of the class's conditions: from light, unstable winds to strong westerlies and challenging chop.
How the title is decided
The championship ends with a Medal Series among the top ten in each category, a knockout format in which every race can mean advancement or elimination. The contest runs through Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and the Grand Final, and the leaders of the Qualification Series enter the final with one match point in hand, needing two to take the title.
Under grey skies, strong wind and classic Weymouth conditions, the decider started exactly at noon, with the Quarter Finals opening the tensest day of the competition.
Steinberg dominated from start to finish
In the women's category, Steinberg needed only one race. The Israeli had controlled the championship from day one, when she opened with four consecutive wins, and reached the Grand Final with one match point as winner of the Qualification Series.
In the decisive race, her compatriot Sharon Kantor started well and led at the first mark, but Steinberg did not give up, pumped the sail to the limit and made the pass to win the first Final race, reaching the required two match points and claiming the world title. Kantor took silver, and Australia's Stella Bilger completed the podium with bronze.
Van Opzeeland decides it in the detail among the men
The men's Medal Series brought more drama. The first attempt at the Semi Final had to be re-sailed because of an error in the starting procedure, adding another twist to the fight for the two Grand Final places. In the re-sail, France's Nicolas Goyard and Denmark's Johan Søe advanced, while Tom Reuveny (ISR), Kiran Badloe (NED) and Italy's Federico Alan Pilloni were knocked out at the semi-final stage.
In the final they joined the USA's Noah Lyons, winner of the Qualification Series, and Van Opzeeland, the runner-up, both entering with one match point. Either could secure the title with a win in the first race, and it was the Dutchman who seized the chance: he won the opening race of the Grand Final and, with it, reached two match points and the world title.
Lyons took silver, after an impressive week in which he led much of the qualification, and Søe claimed bronze on the final reach, overtaking Goyard in the closing metres for a thrilling end to the championship.
A rare double
For both champions, the win in Weymouth completes an extraordinary 2026 season. Steinberg and Van Opzeeland arrived in Great Britain as reigning European champions, titles won in Portimão, Portugal, and leave England at the top of the world too, with the European and world double in the same year.
It was six demanding days of competition, testing speed, tactical ability, consistency and versatility across the Upwind Sprint, Sprint Slalom and Course Racing formats before the decisive finals. And after a week in which both had repeatedly shown those qualities, it was Tamar Steinberg and Luuc van Opzeeland who delivered one more race win when it mattered most.
The podiums
Women: 1st Tamar Steinberg (ISR), 2nd Sharon Kantor (ISR), 3rd Stella Bilger (AUS).
Men: 1st Luuc van Opzeeland (NED), 2nd Noah Lyons (USA), 3rd Johan Søe (DEN).
By: Redação Mundo Mar
Photo: Foto: Sailing Energy / iQFOiL International Class
