For some, the Olympic Games are familiar territory, for others an unrealistic dream. Kitesurfer Annelous Lammerts and windsurfer Lilian de Geus have one thing in common: they drastically change their top sports lives for the Games in Paris. A story about guts, setbacks and foiling.
In 2019, the kite and surfing world is turned upside down. The ‘old-fashioned’ RS:X class will be removed from the Olympic calendar in 2024 and replaced by spectacular foiling. Kite surfers also get the chance to participate in the Paris Games on a foil board.
Until then, both kitesurfer Lammerts and RS:X windsurfer De Geus have been sailing in their trusted class for years. Lammerts has been a pro in freestyle since she was seventeen, while De Geus stopped playing football at sixteen and fell in love with the RS:X board.
They are both successful. Queen of tricks Lammerts travels all over the world, wins international prizes in various disciplines and grabs the European freestyle title. But she does not have an Olympic dream, simply because her sport is not on the program of the Games.
Things are different for De Geus. The windsurfer, who was still on the football field with Orange as a youth international, grabs three world titles on her RS:X board. But one thing is missing: an Olympic medal. She falls just off the podium in both Rio and Tokyo.
When the two sailors hear that foiling will become Olympic, they both change course. Lammerts comes home in the middle of her freestyle career due to corona and is approached by former world windsurfing champion Casper Bouman. De Geus is ready for an Olympic new challenge without an RS:X board. “Otherwise I don’t know if I would have continued,” she says.
The road to the Paris Games
Kitefoilster Annelous Lammerts (29) iQFoil windsurfer Lilian de Geus (31)
The World Sailing Championships, which are now taking place in Scheveningen, are an important qualification moment for the Games in Paris for both sailors. It is important for De Geus that she finishes in the top ten at the World Cup in her own country. For Lammerts, a place among the best eight countries is the goal.
The medal races for the iQFoil class and kite foiling are scheduled for Saturday.
‘Getting used to being the worst again’
At that moment they don’t know what they’ve started, but they don’t regret it. “Being the worst takes some getting used to,” says Lammerts. “It feels like you have to learn to windsurf all over again,” De Geus adds.
From 2021, De Geus will compete in the iQFoil class for windsurfers, the Olympic successor to the RS:X class. Lammerts wants to participate in kitesurfing on the foil board in Paris.
Foiling is a spectacular and faster way of surfing. A kind of fin, the so-called sword, pushes the plank upwards. The plank floats about 50 centimeters above the water, making it seem as if the sailors are flying over the water.
“Many people think that I still practice the same sport, but it is actually a completely different sport,” explains 31-year-old De Geus. “I think you can compare it to a switch from cycling to BMX. It’s both cycling, but on different material.”
Annelous Lammerts was active in freestyle kitesurfing for many years. Photo: Getty Images
De Geus and Lammerts have to gain kilos
The career switch was a quest full of challenges for both De Geus and Lammerts. To make the transition to foiling, they both had to get stronger and heavier. “If you’re too light, you’re not going fast enough,” explains De Geus.
“It feels contradictory to gain weight. I had to turn a mental switch,” says De Geus. “It’s not easy if you suddenly look different than you’re used to, but you can’t stay behind,” Lammerts adds. “Then you might as well stop.”
With the help of nutritionists and thanks to many hours in the weight room, both sailors are now at an ideal weight. “In the end I gained 10 kilos. You make that choice for that Olympic dream,” says Lammerts. “And luckily it was something I could talk about a lot with Lilian.”
About three years after the career switch, Lammerts and De Geus feel at home in the foil class. Although queen of tricks Lammerts cannot resist making another jump after the finish line. “That’s just part of this sport,” she says with a big smile.
2023-08-18 05:56:12
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