Isaura Maenhaut van Lemberge (born 24 December 1998) is a
Belgian sailor. She has competed in the
49 FX class at the
2020 Summer Olympics
The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
together with
Anouk Geurts
Anouk Geurts (3 April 2000) is a Belgian sailor. She has competed in the 49 FX class at the 2020 Summer Olympics together with Isaura Maenhaut.
Career
Geurts started her career in the small Optimist class at the age of 10. She then progresse ...
.
Career
Maenhaut started her career in the small
Optimist
Optimism is the attitude or mindset of expecting events to lead to particularly positive, favorable, desirable, and hopeful outcomes. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled with water to the halfway poin ...
class, competing in European and World championships for this youth category. She then progressed to the
Laser 4.7 class, where she became Belgian champion. At the 2015 Youth World Championships in
Medemblik
Medemblik () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland (region), West-Frisia. It lies immediately south of the polder and former municipality of Wieringermeer.
History
Med ...
, she won the bronze medal. In the next category, the
Laser Radial
The Laser Radial or ILCA 6 is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance and World sailing approved manufactures. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Rad ...
, she again became Belgian champion.
Her first two-person competitions were with the
Nacra 15
The Nacra 15 is a performance catamaran used for racing. It went into production in 2015. It was designed as a smaller version of the Olympic multihull class, the Nacra 17.
Youth selection
In early 2015, World Sailing announced that they were ...
boat, which she sailed together with
Henri Demesmaeker. Together they won the bronze medal at the 2016 Youth World Championships in Auckland. After a year in the
Nacra 17
The Nacra 17 is a performance catamaran used for sailing. It was designed in 2011, went into production in 2012 and has been the focus of multihull sailing at the Olympic Games since its conception.
The Nacra has been converted to a sailing ...
she then switched to the 49 FX.
Maenhaut and Geurts have sailed together since 2018. They finished 31st at the 2020
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
and
secured their Olympic ticket at the 2021 Lanzarote sailing competition. They finished 14th in Tokyo. By finishing 4th at the 2023
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, The Netherlands, they secured their Olympic ticket for
their second Olympics in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France.
Maenhaut and Geurts won the
49er FX European Championships in 2024 in
La Grande-Motte
La Grande-Motte (; ) is a commune in the Hérault département in Occitanie in southern France. It is a popular seaside resort and port near Montpellier, built in the 1960s and 1970s. La Grande-Motte is characterized by homogeneous architectur ...
, France.
Personal Life
Maenhaut lives in
Merelbeke
Merelbeke () is a former municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Count ...
and studies
nautical sciences.
Awards
*2015: Young Sailor of the Year award from Belgian Sailing
*2019: Sailing Team of the Year award from Belgian Sailing
See also
*
Notes
External links
*
*
*
*
1998 births
Living people
Belgian female sailors (sport)
Olympic sailors for Belgium
Sailors at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 49er FX
Sailors at the 2024 Summer Olympics – 49er FX
People from Merelbeke
Sportspeople from East Flanders
21st-century Belgian sportswomen
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