Magic of Marta Maggetti

MARSEILLE, France, Aug 03 (Agencies): Marta Maggetti came from behind to win gold Saturday in the new windsurfing class called iQFOiL, topping Sharon Kantor and Emma Wilson at the Paris Olympics.
Israel's Tom Reuveny won the men's race, followed by Australia's Grae Morris. Luuc van Opzeeland won bronze for the Netherlands' second sailing medal in as many days.
Maggetti, 28, is from Italy, and Kantor, 21, is from Israel. Wilson, of Britain, the daughter of a two-time windsurfing Olympian, also won a bronze medal in Tokyo in the previous windsurfing class.
"I've been calm all day, taking it step by step," a beaming Maggetti said. "I was able to think and I made a turn before the others."
Wilson, who led the final race until Maggetti made her big move, sobbed with disappointment in the water and back on shore.
"I just made a mistake," Wilson said. "It really hurts."
In iQFOiL windsurfing, the sailors fly off the water at high speed, the boards lifted by a foil. Olympic sailing regattas in Marseille started on Sunday. They have been plagued by high heat and fickle winds, which forced the first medal races in the men's and women's skiffs to be postponed to Friday.
The windsurfing quarterfinals, semifinals and medal races were all pushed to Saturday. Each race only lasts about 10 minutes or less, with athletes pushing speeds well above 20 knots (37 kph or 23 mph).
Meanwhile, Britain's surprise package Louie Hinchliffe claimed a qualifying edge on 100 metres favourite Noah Lyles as he led home the world champion in 9.98 seconds in Saturday's first-round heats.
Coached by Carl Lewis and the first European to win the NCAA title in the United States, Hinchliffe finished strongly and Lyles, not exactly easing up, took second in 10.04 to also go through safely. Lyles is targeting a possible four golds in Paris, in the 100m, his favourite 200m, the 4x100m relay and, possibly, the 4x400m relay.
Kishane Thompson is the world leader with the 9.77 he ran to win the Jamaican trials in June. The 23-year-old is in only his second year as a professional athlete but dealt with the distraction of the false-start disqualification of Briton Jeremiah Azu in the lane alongside him to get a good start, a strong pick up before easing down early to clock 10.00 and win the first heat.
In another event, Czech duo Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac won the Olympic Games tennis mixed doubles gold on Friday but opted to keep their private life under wraps.
Siniakova and Machac triumphed 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 over China's Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen.
They started dating in 2020 but recently were rumoured to have split.
Meanwhile, Britain's brilliant performance to win the gold medal in the men's eights on the final day of rowing left coxswain Harry Brightmore jumping for joy, but he made sure not to fall into the water ahead of the medal ceremony a few minutes later.
The 30-year-old steered his crew to victory in a race they dominated, cruising home ahead of the Netherlands and the United States thanks to their consistent strong stroking and Brightmore's very vocal encouragement.
"These guys are masochists and they like to be told, even when they're in the depths of pain, that they can put out more, so it's my job to crack the whip basically," an elated Brightmore told Reuters.