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 fourth-placed sailor without carrying over any wins.

Bontus was on fire today, coming from behind to win three races in a row 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 hasn't been 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.

The final day did not start well for Vodišek. Even before the races got going, he received two penalties; 0.5 points for being late at the start and another 0.6 points for not wearing a helmet as equipment was inspected before the start.

With over a point penalty, even a win in the second final race, the first on Friday, would not have earned him gold.

"It was quite stressful. I didn't even know what was going on at first. Mistakes happen, even on the biggest stage," said Vodišek, who did not want to blame his team for the blunders, noting that it had been standing on his side all along.

He praised the winner, saying that "Bontus raced exceptionally today and no one deserved the gold medal more than him", while adding that he will "come back even stronger than before".

While he still felt a bit sad before he climbed on the medal podium, Vodišek said that when he "was handed the medal, I realised that we had written history in a new Olympic discipline. I still achieved something important."

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 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 2016 in the Finn class.