Maximilian Maeder[a]OLY (born 12 September 2006) is a Singaporean Formula Kite professional athlete.[22] He is the reigning Formula Kite World, Asiad, Asian and European champion. He holds the distinction of being the youngest winner in any Olympic sailing class competition, achieving this at the age of 16.[23]
Maeder competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the inaugural Men's Formula Kite event, where he reached the finals and won the bronze medal, becoming the country's second native-born Olympic medalist.[24] Maeder is also a three-time youth world sailing champion in consecutive years from 2021 to 2023[25] and won various open championships across Europe, Asia and Pan America.[26] Since the 2021 European Championships, he has consistently secured podium finishes in every competition he has entered.
Early life
Maeder was born in Singapore to a family with mixed Eurasian heritage. His father, Valentin Maeder, is a Swiss German and his mother, Hwee Keng (née Teng) Maeder, is Singaporean Chinese.[27] He is the eldest among his siblings and has two younger brothers.[27] At the age of six, his father introduced him to kiteboarding before encouraging him to venture into kitefoiling, a more advanced form of the sport, when he was 10.[28][29] By the age of 11, Maeder had already competed in his first competitive pro race.[30][22]
Career
2018–2021: Early career and World No.1
Maeder's achievements began when he won his first competitive tournament in the Formula Kite Asian Championships at Zhuhai in 2018.[28] He later emerged victorious at various tournaments such as the 2021 Formula Kite Youth World Championships (U19),[31] Formula Kite Individual European Championships, Youth Sailing World Championships and KiteFoil World Series.[26] He also took part in his first Formula Kite World Championships in the same year, where he finished fifth.[32] On 20 September 2021, Maeder achieved his highest IKA - Formula Kite men's ranking of World No.1.[33][34]
2022: World Championships silver
In 2022, success continued to follow with his second Formula Kite Youth World Championships (U21), Youth Sailing World Championships and Formula Kite Individual European Championships titles, as well his first Formula Kite Asia-Pacific Championships, Formula Kite Pan American Championships and Semaine Olympique Francaise De Voile victories.[26] In his second appearance at the Formula Kite World Championships, he finished as runner-up to Slovenia's Toni Vodišek.[35][36]
2023: World and Asian Champions
In 2023, Maeder began his new season by winning the World Cup Series held on the Spanish island of Mallorca.[37] In July, he achieved a significant milestone by capturing his third consecutive Formula Kite Youth World Championships victory.[34][38] Additionally, in August, Maeder also secured his first Formula Kite World Championships title.[39] This accomplishment came as he defeated his rival, Toni Vodišek, and set a new record as the youngest winner in any Olympic sailing class competition, all at the age of 16.[24] Maeder good form continued at the delayed 2022 Asian Games where he won Singapore's first gold medal at the quadrennial games.[23] He finished the season strongly by winning the KiteFoil World Series and clinching his third Youth Sailing World Championships title.[40]
2024: Consecutive World title and Olympic debut
Maeder, who was ranked 6th in the world at the time, opened the 2024 season by winning the European Championships.[41] He followed this success with victories at the World Cup Series[42] and the Semaine Olympique Française De Voile.[43] In May, he claimed his second Formula Kite World Championships title by overcoming Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi, the world’s top-ranked Formula Kite men’s sailor, who finished in second place ahead of Austria’s Valentin Bontus.[43][44] That same year, Maeder debuted at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, competing in the Men's Formula Kite.[45] There, he won a bronze medal on 9 August 2024, Singapore's National Day, becoming the youngest Olympic medalist of Singapore at the age of 17.[46] In September, Maeder returns to competing, finishing first place in KiteFoil World Series Austria[47] and 2024 KiteFoil Asian Championships in Daishan, China.[48]
Business and industry endorsements
Maeder is endorsed by several kitesurf and water sports gear companies such as Levitaz, WIP and Flysurfer.[49][50][51] In 2024, he also helped the development of his foil and kite with Levitaz and Flysurfer.[52]
Maeder has represented Singaporean beverage brand, Yeo's (Yeo Hiap Seng), as a brand ambassador since 2022.[53] He has appeared advertisements for the brand, including digital and physical advertisements for the brand's "New Pioneers" campaign prior the olympics in 2024,[54] as well as a special edition beverage can featuring Maeder.[55]Yeo's also hosted meet & greet sessions for fans of Maeder.[56][57] Maeder's partnership with Yeo's aligned with a 3-year-sponsorship agreement with the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation,[58][59] founded by the son of the creator of Far East Organisation, which is the parent company of Yeo's. Maeder has represented Swiss watch brand, Norqain, as a brand ambassador since 2022.[60] Singaporean bank, DBS, announced a four-and-a-half year collaboration with Maeder.[61][62]He has appeared in the brand's "Trust Your Spark" campaign in 2024,[63] and took part in private and public engagement sessions hosted by DBS. [64][65]
Personal life
Maximilian Maeder was born on 12 September 2006[66] in Singapore to Valentin and Hwee Keng (née Teng) Maeder. His father is a Swiss, and his mother is a Chinese Singaporean. He has two younger brothers, Karl and Valentin Jr., who are respectively 2 and 9 years younger.[67]
Maeder grew up in a multilingual household; In addition to his native English, Maeder also understands Mandarin, German, Swiss German and French.[30][28] He said that his linguistic abilities, particularly in Mandarin, are a result of his mother’s persistent effort in ignoring anything he said in any language other than Mandarin.[68][69] Maeder was homeschooled growing up.[67]
His family has a long association with water sports: His uncle Lorenz Mäder is a marine biologist who also is the founder of the conservationistdive resort Wakatobi in Southern Sulawesi, Indonesia.[70] Maeder’s parents have helped manage the dive resort, with his mother, Hwee Keng Maeder, being on the board of Wakatobi. [70][67] His father, Valentin Maeder is a glider pilot and water sports enthusiast.[71][67] Maeder spent a large part of his early life in Wakatobi, and it is also where he first learnt kiteboarding and kitefoiling.[72][73]
Although Maeder had dual nationality of Swiss and Singaporean by birth, he chose to compete for Singapore at the age of 11.[74] He compared the choice of what country to represent with choosing one cuisine to eat for the rest of his life. He stated, “It felt like choosing between chicken rice and cheese fondue” and it was a “easy choice” for him to pick chicken rice (standing for Singapore).[74] His brother Karl Maeder is also a kitefoiler who is representing Switzerland and is on the Swiss Youth Kite Sailing team.[67][75]
Maeder with other Singapore Olympians at the open-top bus parade in 2024
In his free time, Maeder enjoys chess.[72] Max enjoys a form of chess mode called “chess puzzles” and has told that his chess puzzle points on Chess.com is 2650.[76] It is his superstition to base his performance in the race on how he did for his chess puzzles on the day.[76] Maeder has been dating an unnamed Singaporean national swimmer since August 2024.[76]
In 2024, he was granted a deferment from his National Service (NS) obligations where he could continue to train and compete until after the 2028 Summer Olympics.[77]
After the 2024 Paris Olympics, Maeder and 9 other Singaporean Olympians participated in an open-top bus parade.[78][79]
Awards and nominations
The list of nominations for awards received by and awards won by Maeder are as follows:
↑ Zhang, Qianxue; Low, Ken (13 August 2024). "墨士廉外公：让他先尽情跟大家分享快乐 我们会在家等着他"[Max Maeder's grandfather: Let him share his happiness with everyone first, we will wait for him at home]. Lianhe Zaobao. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
Singapore has sent athletes to the celebration of the Olympic Games since 1948, when it was established as a separate British crown colony from the Straits Settlements just over three months before the commencement of the 1948 Summer Olympics. It continued to send a team to the Games until 1964 when the Singaporean delegation competed with Malaysia, which sent a combined team.
Singapore competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, except for two different editions. Singapore was part of the Malaysian team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but did not attend at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, because of its support for the United States boycott.
Veronica Shanti Pereira is a Singaporean track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 x 100 m, and 4 x 400 m. She holds the 100 m national record (11.20s), 200 m national record (22.57s), 400 m national record (53.67s), 200 m SEA Games record (22.69s), and the 200 m Asian Athletics Championships games record (22.70s). She was ranked 1st in Asia in 2023 for both the 100 m and 200 m based on World Athletics' records.
Yeo Jia Min is a Singaporean badminton player. She is a former World Junior No.1 and the first Singaporean in either the junior or senior categories to made it to the top of the BWF's ranking system.
Loh Kean Yew OLY is a Singaporean badminton player. He is the former men's singles world champion, winning the title at the 2021 BWF World Championships, becoming the first Singaporean to achieve this feat.
Amita Marie Nicolette Berthier OLY is a Singaporean, left-handed foil fencer. She attended the University of Notre Dame from 2018 to 2023, clinching 4 individual NCAA Fencing Championships medals. Representing Singapore, Berthier has won 3 SEA Games gold medals and qualified for 2 Olympic Games.
Singapore competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the nation's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1948 Games. In addition, Singapore was part of the Malaysian team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but did not attend at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, because of its support for the United States boycott. The opening ceremony flag-bearers for Singapore are table tennis player Yu Mengyu and shuttler Loh Kean Yew. Diver Jonathan Chan is the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
Formula Kite is the kitesurfing class chosen by World Sailing for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The class features a foil kite and a board with a hydrofoil. The equipment is not one-design, but instead competitors use their choice of approved production equipment. The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) manages the class. The class is for men and women.
Singapore competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. It was the nation's eighteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1948 Games. Singapore has competed in every edition since except 1964 in Tokyo, as part of the Malaysian team, and 1980 in Moscow, because of its support for the United States boycott.
Breiana Whitehead is an Olympic kitesurfer from Australia. She was the first athlete selected for the Australian team for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Julia Damasiewicz is a Polish formula kitesurfer. She was the European champion in 2020.
Julie Paturau is the Mauritian-born African champion kitefoiler who qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Maggie Eillen Pescetto is an Italian Formula Kite sailor who took the silver position at the Kite Open Africa and Middle East Championship in 2022. She was nominated for Olympic competition at formula kite in 2024.
Gal Zukerman is an Israeli kite foiler. She won the Youth Sailing World Championships in 2022. Zukerman competed for Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Women's Formula Kite in Marseille, France, and came in eighth.
Emily Claire Bugeja is a Canadian kitefoiler who was sixth in the Pan American Games in 2023. She was nominated to compete for Canada at the 2024 Olympics.
Elena Lengwiler born Elena Bosshard is a Swiss Ice Hockey player and a nominated kitefoiler for the 24 Olympics. She was fourth in the 2024 European championships and she represents Switzerland in Formula Kite at the 2024 Olympics.
Mafalda Pires de Lima is a Portuguese kitefoiler. She has been sailing since the age of ten and when it was agreed that Formula Kite was to be an Olympic sport then she began to enjoy the difficult sport. She was Portugal's first woman kitesurfing champion.
Riccardo Pianosi is an Italian kitesurfer who competes in the Formula Kite category. He won two medals in the Formula Kite World Championship, in 2021 and 2024, and two medals in the Formula Kite European Championship, in 2023 and 2024.
Huang Qibin is a Chinese Formula Kite professional sailing athlete. He became the Asian & Oceania champion In 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Singapore 
