The 25-year-old Dutchman finished in the final of the medal series in the iQFoil class behind Israeli Tom Reuveny and Australian Grae Morris.
Van Opzeeland’s bronze medal is the second for the Netherlands in Marseille, where the Olympic sailing tournament is held. Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz won gold in the 49erFX class on Friday. It is the fourth time in a row that a Dutch windsurfer has won a medal at the Games. Dorian van Rijsselberghe (2012 and 2016) and Kiran Badloe (2021) have won gold in the traditional RS:X class in recent years.
Van Opzeeland had qualified for the quarterfinals on Saturday by finishing fifth in the rankings last week. He qualified convincingly for the semifinals and was also unassailable there.
The Dutchman knew that he had won a medal by reaching the final. In the final with Reuveny and Morris, who was automatically placed as number 1 of the ranking, it was determined which color the medal would be. In the final battle Van Opzeeland exchanged positions with Reuveny and Morris a few times, but in the last part he did not come close to the competitors.
Van Opzeeland was seen as one of the contenders for a medal before the Games. The former world champion had a false start on Monday, but took the lead a day later. He then suffered a technical problem in a near collision on Wednesday. Partly due to the incident and a rejected protest, he eventually had to settle for fifth place in the rankings.
The iQFoil class is a new Olympic discipline, after the traditional RS:X class. In wind foiling, a wing construction is placed under the board, which lifts it above the water and allows higher speeds to be achieved.
