Vodišek wins silver in men's Formula Kite at Paris Olympics

The 24-year-old from Koper entered the finals in the best position, as he carried over two wins from the qualifying regattas, and needed only one more win to secure the gold medal.

He had a chance to become the Olympic champion in the discipline that made its Olympic debut already on Thursday, but there was only one race yesterday due to various issues and the finals were postponed to today.

The only race yesterday was won by Valentin Bontus of Austria, who made the finals as the third-placed sailor without carrying over any wins.

Bontus was on fire today and scored three races in a row today to win the gold medal, while Vodišek crashed in the last race and finished last among the four finalists.

Maximilian Maeder of Singapore, a 17-year-old who is ranked first in the world in this class and this year won the world champion title, won the bronze medal.

"The hard work in my whole life, especially in the last four years, has brought me the second place at the Olympics," Vodišek said in his first statement after winning silver for the public broadcaster Radio Slovenija.

"It's not been easy. A lot of effort and sacrifice is required. We have now shown that small Slovenia can compete as equals with bigger and stronger countries," he added.

Vodišek, who was crowned the European and world champion in 2022, has won the second medal for Slovenia at this year's Olympics, after judoka Andreja Leški, who is also from Koper, won gold in the women's under 63kg category last week.

His silver medal is the fourth Olympic medal for Slovenia in sailing, coming after Vasilij Žbogar won bronze and silver in 2004 and 2008, respectively, in the laser class, and silver in 2010 in the Finn class.