Inaugural X-15 Wingfoil World Championships - Preview

X-15 racing from Portimao, Portugal earlier this season! © Jamie Allardice

The inaugural X-15 Wingfoil World Championships will bring together Olympic experience, SailGP talent and a new generation competing for the class's first world titles.

An Olympic gold medallist, a SailGP trailblazer and some of wingfoil racing's most exciting young competitors will converge on Ibiza this November, each pursuing an achievement that can only happen once: becoming an inaugural X-15 World Champion.

Hosted by Club Mare Nostrum at Port Nàutic Ibiza from 4-8 November 2026, the championship marks a defining moment for the X-Class Association. Against Ibiza's coastline, athletes with a deep Olympic connection, a variety of sailing backgrounds and a passion for wingfoiling will converge, racing on standardised equipment and bringing the sport to an international audience.

Svein Rasmussen, Founder of Starboard, commented, "This is a very special moment for the X-15. It is a moment we have been focusing on as the class continues its global growth.

"Wingfoiling's popularity has exploded, and this championship will be a defining moment for its next chapter.

"What excites me is who will be on that start line. We have athletes who know what it takes to compete at the Olympic Games and young riders discovering how far they can go. Bringing them together is a powerful statement about the discipline we are building. We want people watching to feel the excitement and want to be part of this."

Among those on the provisional entry list is Norway's Siren Sundby, the Athens 2004 Olympic gold medallist in the Europe class. More than two decades after her Olympic victory, Sundby brings exceptional racing experience to a championship that will challenge athletes to apply their skills in a different setting.

Americans Anna Weis and Dominique Stater add further Olympic pedigree. Weis competed at Tokyo 2020 and became SailGP's first full-time female grinder, while Stater represented the USA in Olympic windsurfing at Paris 2024.

In the men's field, Spain's Tokyo 2020 Olympian Ángel Granda Roque adds a home-nation story to a field that also includes WASZP Games champion, Martinius Melleby Hopstock.

Ahead of the championship, 112 riders, including 79 men and 33 women, including 53 competitors across the under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-19 divisions, have signed up to compete. Alongside established names, those younger riders will help define what this first championship becomes.

Twenty six nations will be represented at the World Championships, from Guatemala with Sara Ortiz Vey, to 16-year-old Yana Li from China and many more from around the world.

Ava Hider, X-15 Class Manager, added, "Bringing this championship to life means bringing a whole community together. Behind every entry is someone who has chosen to train, travel and be part of this first chapter. Seeing those people come together in Ibiza will be incredibly rewarding.

"We want every competitor to feel they belong here. The first world champions will have a special place in the history of the X-15 class, but we want every rider to leave know they're part of a community that is growing."

Wingfoiling combines a handheld, wind-powered wing with a board lifted above the water by a hydrofoil. The X-15 Class's one-design framework places athletes' handling, tactics and ability to read a race course at its heart.

Racing is scheduled to start on 4 November and conclude on 8 November.