Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | Singapore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Singapore | 12 September 2006||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 91 kg (201 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sailing career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class | Formula Kite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Jonny Dolenc | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Competition record
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Maximilian Maeder (born 12 September 2006) is a kitesurfer from Singapore. [2] He is the reigning Formula Kite World, Asiad [3] and European champion and holds the distinction of being the youngest winner in any Olympic sailing class competition, achieving this remarkable feat at the age of 16. [4] Maeder is also a three-time Formula Kite youth world champion in consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 [5] and won various open championships across Europe, Asia and Pan America. [6]
Maeder was born in Singapore to a family with mixed heritage. His father, Valentin Maeder, is Swiss, and his mother, Hwee Keng, is Singaporean. [7] He is the eldest among his siblings and has two younger brothers. [7] At the age of six, his father introduced him to kiteboarding. [8] When he was 10, his father encouraged him to venture into kitefoiling, a more advanced form of the sport. By the age of 11, Maeder had already competed in his first competitive pro racing. [2]
Maeder's achievements began when he won his first competitive tournament in the Formula Kite Asian Championships in 2018. [8] He later emerged victorious at various tournaments such as the 2021 Formula Kite Youth World Championships (U19), Formula Kite Individual European Championships, Youth Sailing World Championships and KiteFoil World Series. [6] He also took part in his first Formula Kite World Championships in the same year, where he finished fifth. [9] On 20 September 2021, Maeder achieved his highest IKA - Formula Kite men's ranking of World No.1. [10] [11]
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. [6] In his second appearance at the Formula Kite World Championships, he finished as runner-up to Slovenia's Toni Vodisek. [12] [13]
In 2023, Maeder began his new season by winning the World Cup Series held on the Spanish island of Mallorca. [14] In July, he achieved a significant milestone by capturing his third consecutive Formula Kite Youth World Championships victory. [11] [15] Additionally, in August, Maeder also secured his first Formula Kite World Championships title. [16] This accomplishment came as he defeated his rival, Toni Vodisek, and set a new record as the youngest winner in any Olympic sailing class competition, all at the age of 16. [4] Maeder good form continued at the delayed 2022 Asian Games where he won Singapore's first gold medal at the quadrennial games. [3] He finished the season strongly by winning the KiteFoil World Series and clinching his third Youth Sailing World Championships title. [17]
In addition to his native English, Maeder is also a fluent speaker of Mandarin, German and French. [8]
Maeder was nominated for the following lists and awards :
Victoria Junior College (VJC) is a co-educational junior college in Singapore offering pre-university education to boarding and day-students. Founded in 1984, the school stands on Marine Vista, less than one kilometre from the affiliated Victoria School.
The Singapore Sailing Federation, also known as SingaporeSailing, is the National Sports Association (NSA) responsible for the management and organisation of the sport of sailing in Singapore.
The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) is the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the Republic of Singapore. It was founded in 1947 as the Singapore Olympic and Sports Council (SOSC) before renaming to its current iteration in 1970.
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Soh Rui Yong, Guillaume is a Singaporean national long-distance runner, and holder of six national records: 5,000m, 10,000m, half marathon and marathon. Soh has been described as the "most outstanding long-distance runner in our history" by the President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, hailing Soh's "mental stamina".
Loh Kean Yew 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.
Lim Min, known as Kimberly Lim, is a Singaporean sailor. She was a multiple medalist in various sailing classes in various editions of the Asian Games and also the champion of the Optimist World Championships in 2011. She participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) is Singapore's national governing body for taekwondo. It is affiliated to World Taekwondo (WT) and Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC). In May 2019, the STF was suspended from both organisations.
Jonathan Chan Fan Keng is a Singaporean former diver. He competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics after his qualification through a victory in the 2019 Asian Diving Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 8 September 2019. He is the first Singaporean diver to have qualified for the Olympic Games. Due to his Olympic qualification, Chan was nominated for the Straits Times Athlete of the Year award in 2020.
Singapore participated at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 12 to 23 May 2022. The Games were postponed in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Singapore competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022. This was Singapore's seventeenth appearance at the twenty-second edition of the Games.
Singapore is scheduled to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. It will be 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 Malaysia team, and 1980 in Moscow, because of its support for the United States boycott.
Marc Tay Tze-Hsin was a Singaporean competitive swimmer and ophthalmologist. He broke the national under-17 100-metre freestyle record in April 1977 and was named Sportsboy of the Year by the Singapore Sports Council. Tay represented Singapore in swimming at four editions of the biennial SEA Games. As an eye surgeon, he served as part of the Singapore Armed Forces' medical team in Riyadh during the Gulf War. Tay later worked at the Singapore National Eye Centre, before founding his own clinic. In 2014, Tay was convicted, fined and suspended from practising for failing to report undisclosed income.