The Lower Austrian, who started the final as an outsider, won all three races and triumphed ahead of the Slovenian Toni Vodisek and Maximilian Maeder from Singapore. One day after Lara Vadlau/Lukas Mähr’s Olympic victory, the ÖOC team can celebrate their second gold medal in Paris. Overall, it was the fourth medal for Austria at the Summer Games in France. Judoka Michaela Polleres and climber Jakob Schubert won bronze. For the sailing association, it was the ninth medal in history, the fifth gold.
After Bontus’ victory in the first race on Thursday, the rest of the final proceedings had to be postponed due to light winds. The 23-year-old was initially unstoppable on Friday as well. The Lower Austrian took his second “win” in the second race and thus earned himself a showdown against Vodisek, who had started the final with a two-win lead. The Slovenian fell in the deciding race, Bontus won again and was crowned Olympic champion.
“There are no tricks”
This week’s competition off Marseille was a test of patience for the kite surfers due to the wind. “There are no tricks, I have a great team behind me from the sailing association and the Olympic Committee. My coach always encourages me, we have a lot of fun on the water. I think that’s the advantage I have over the others, that I really enjoy the whole thing,” said Bontus. “If I had come fourth, so what? My life goes on.”
Overall, he would have liked to have driven more races, but in the opening series there were only seven. “Normally we have five days and drive up to twenty races. Here we only drove seven. That’s a bit poor.” But it doesn’t matter whether it’s twenty or seven races, it’s usually the same people who are at the top. During training before Marseille, there were often good situations with the wind. “We always came out well. Strangely enough, everyone says the games are different, but that’s really how it was.”
Bontus was cheered on in Marseille by a large and, above all, loud fan community of family and friends. Even from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. “My girlfriend Martina is from Garmisch, we moved in together there. There are quite a lot of people here.” The parents had rented a house with a view of the bay and the race course.
