Finn Brüll wins iQFOiL Youth title after dramatic Medal Series finish

Finn Brüll, Alba Klein and Marta Gajdzinska won the pressure test in Torbole, where the final Medal Series day on Lake Garda reshuffled the podiums and rewarded the sailors who handled the format’s late swings best. Brüll’s Under 19 Men’s title came only after he finished third in the first Final and then won the second with the start he needed, while Klein sealed the Under 19 Women’s crown and Gajdzinska took the Under 17 Girls’ title in a week built for comeback chances and sudden reversals.

The 2026 iQFOiL Youth & Junior International Games ran from May 4 to May 9 and brought nearly 200 Under 17 and Under 19 athletes from 21 nations to Torbole, with Circolo Surf Torbole staging the event on behalf of the Italian Sailing Federation alongside the International iQFOiL Youth & Junior Class. The regatta had to claw its way through three straight days of little or no racing before the penultimate day delivered nearly eight hours on the water, about 60 starting procedures and the minimum eight qualifying races needed to unlock the Medal Series for the top eight sailors in each fleet.

That setup mattered on the final day, when steady south wind around 11 to 13 knots gave the top eight enough water time to settle the championships in Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals. In the Under 19 Men’s fleet, Brüll was the only winner who needed two Finals. After taking third in the first, the Dutch sailor reset, nailed the second start and claimed the second point he needed for the overall title. Poland’s Gustaw Trybek finished second and France’s Titouan Dizet took third.

Alba Klein’s win in the Under 19 Women’s fleet was another example of how little room the Medal Series left for error once the racing began. France’s Salomé Simon finished second, while Italy’s Vittoria Marconi produced one of the week’s strongest climbs by coming through the Quarter Finals, advancing through the Semi Finals and reaching the Final, where she secured bronze. That path captured the value of the format: the championship stayed open deep into the last day.

The Under 17 categories delivered the same kind of pressure. Germany’s Moritz Schleicher settled his duel with Czech sailor Frantisek Burda in the first Final to take the boys’ title, with France’s Mahé Givernaud completing the podium. In the girls’ fleet, Marta Gajdzinska edged the Netherlands’ Anna Jannieke Korevaar for the win, and Italy’s Elisa Bruno finished third. For a fleet this deep, the Medal Series did exactly what it was designed to do: force the best sailors to prove it when the format tightened and the wind returned.