Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X), Women

Charline Picon of France, the 2014 World Champion, was the defending gold medallist. The last four World titles had gone to Dutch sailor Lilian de Geus (2018, 2020-21) and China’s Lu Yunxiu (2019). All three were in Tokyo and were expected to battle for the medals.

Picon won the opening race and after three races was in the lead with Lu and de Geus well back, despite de Geus winning the third race. Picon won the fifth race but after seven phases she was in a virtual tie with Britain’s Emma Wilson, who won races four and seven. Wilson repeated in race eight to move ahead but, heading into the medal race, Lu had taken the lead, as she steadily accumulated runner-up finishes. The medals were decided by the final race as Lu, Wilson, and Picon were well ahead of fourth-place Marta Maggetti of Italy.

Picon won the medal race, with Wilson second and Lu third, but it was not enough to knock Lu out of the gold medal spot. Picon took silver and Wilson bronze in the closest medal competition of the Tokyo sailing regatta. De Geus was never a medal factor, finishing fifth. This was the first Olympics for Wilson, but her mother, Penny Way-Wilson, had competed as a windsurfer at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

Windsurfing had been on the Olympic Programme since 1992 and was a demonstration event at Los Angeles in 1984. It was raced in various classes with the Neil Pryde RS:X board used in 2008-20, but changes were planned for Paris 2024, as the RS:X would be replaced by the Starboard iQFoil board.