Tamar Steinberg is the 2026 iQFOiL women's world champion. The Israeli windsurfer won the title on September 12, 2026, at the Musto iQFOiL World Championships hosted by the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the south coast of England. Sharon Kantor, also of Israel, took silver, and Stella Bilger of Australia bronze. A third Israeli, Daniela Peleg, finished fourth. The Israeli Olympic Committee published the result the same day, and the iQFOiL Class, the international class association that runs the championship, confirmed the podium in its final-day report.
What was established, and by whom. The iQFOiL Class report of the final day describes a Medal Series in which Steinberg and Kantor, first and second in the qualification series, went straight to the Grand Final, each carrying one match point. Bilger and Peleg came through the quarter-final and semi-final to join them. Kantor led at the first mark of the first Grand Final race; Steinberg overtook her and won it, reaching the two match points needed for the title in a single race. Steinberg had opened the championship with four consecutive race wins and led the standings throughout the week, according to both the class association and the Israeli Olympic Committee. In the men's event, Israel's Tom Reuveni won his quarter-final but went out in a semi-final that was re-sailed after a starting-procedure error; Luuc van Opzeeland of the Netherlands took the men's title ahead of Noah Lyons of the United States and Johan Søe of Denmark.
The numbers differ slightly between sources. The official results portal for the event lists 179 competitors from 39 nations; the class association's own press material says 186 athletes from 41 nations. Both are cited here rather than reconciled. Racing ran across the week ending September 12, with the qualification series combining upwind sprint, sprint slalom and course racing before the single-day Medal Series.
Who the athletes are. Steinberg, aged 20 according to the Israeli Olympic Committee, won the 2026 iQFOiL Open European Championship in Portimão, Portugal, on May 23, 2026, and took silver at the previous World Championship; the Weymouth title completes a European and world double in one season, which the class association notes she shares with van Opzeeland this year. Kantor, 23, won Israel's first women's Olympic sailing medal with silver at Paris 2024 and was iQFOiL world champion in 2024. Her 2026 silver came after she started the week in 16th place in qualifying, according to the Israeli Olympic Committee.
Why it matters. iQFOiL is the Olympic windsurfing class, so its world championship is the top annual title in the discipline and a direct marker for Los Angeles 2028. Israel already holds both Paris 2024 windsurfing medals (Reuveni gold, Kantor silver), and putting three women in a four-boat world final shows a depth no other nation matched in this event.
What it does not show. A world title in 2026 does not decide Olympic selection; Israel's Olympic berth and the choice between Steinberg, Kantor, Peleg and Shahar Tibi will be settled by the national federation's own process closer to 2028. No prize money or ranking-points figures were published in the sources reviewed.
What comes next. The iQFOiL season continues with the regular World Cup series; the 2027 World Championship venue had not been announced in the sources reviewed at the time of writing. Last checked: September 13, 2026.