Lena Aylin Erdil (born 28 February 1989) is a professional

windsurfer Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

from

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

, Turkey. She is competing in the PWA World Tour mostly in the slalom event. She is currently sponsored by NRV, Starboard Windsurfing, Point7, Salzbrenner Würstchen and FGH.

Personal life

Lena Aylin Erdil was born to a Turkish father and a German mother in

, Turkey on 28 February 1989. When she was two years old, the family moved to

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, Germany, and at the age of ten, she moved with her parents to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. Her father Güven Erdil is a professor of

sports coaching A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the H ...

serving as the Head of Sports Department at

Marmara University Marmara University ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

's Faculty of Sports. Her mother Ellen was a primary school teacher of German language, and sports, who died from colorectal cancer at the age of 55 in 2016. Her father and mother had met each other while windsurfing. She spent her childhood years in Germany and Belgium. During summer holidays, she visited Çeşma,

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

for windsurfing. After completing high school, she received an athletic grant from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

in Brighton, England, in 2009, where she majored in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and philosophy. Following graduation, she returned to Turkey at the age of 24, and settled in

Bodrum Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient ...

Muğla Province Muğla Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, ...

, in the southwestern Aegean Region. In 2007, Erdil opened her own sports school, "Lena Erdil Windsurf Center", in the Ortakent neighborhood of Bodrum with the support of her parents. She hosts pro- X-training activities at her sports center. In 2019, Erdil moved to Germany to settle in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Sports career

Erdil used to perform

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

in her youth with her parents during the summer holidays in Turkey. She received her first windsurfing board and gear at the age of 13 from her father. The -tall sportswoman performs windsurfing professionally, competing in the freestyle,

wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...

, and jump events in addition to her main class of slalom. Although the slalom branch is not an Olympic discipline, she prefers it due to its high speed in racing. She also competes on teams. To remain fit for competitions, she exercises three to six hours a day in the summer months, and in the winter time, she goes to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, for three months. She debuted in competitive windsurfing at the age of 15. In 2005, Erdil won the junior champion title in the Turkish championship. After being successful in local races, she took part in Turkish championships, and then debuted internationally in 2006. She placed fourth at the 2008 PWA World Tour held in

Alaçatı Alaçatı is a part of İzmir on the Western coast of Turkey, often noted for its architecture, vineyards, windmills, and sea. Alaçatı is one of the most traditional towns in Turkey, with stone houses, narrow streets, boutique hotels and resta ...

, Turkey, marking her first best international ranking. In 2012, Erdil took third place in the overall standings at the PWA World Cup after being runner-up in the Italian leg at Reggio Calabria. She improved her rank in the PWA World Cup's overall classification by placing second in 2014. At the 2015 International Funboard Class Association (IFCA) Slalom World Championship held in

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

, Germany, she gained her first championship title, and the next year at the same competition in

Brač Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide. The island's tall ...

, Croatia, she defended her title. Also in 2016, she was the winner of the PWA World Cup's South Korean leg at

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

. As of 2016, she held eight championship titles in the Turkish Women's Slalom Championships. In the following competitions, she secured third or second place in almost every competition. In 2018, she finished the PWA World Cup season as the runner-up in the slalom event after placing second in the legs in

, South Korea, and

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

, Japan, as well as ranking third in

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, Portugal. She is the holder of the Turkish windsurfing record with set during the 2012 International Windsurf Speed Record competition held in

Lüderitz Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, includ ...

, Namibia. This is the second-best world record for women at all. One of Erdil's main sponsors is Red Bull since 2011. She is nicknamed "Rüzgarin Kızı" (''Daughter of the Wind'') in her country.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erdil, Lena 1989 births Living people Turkish windsurfers Female windsurfers Turkish female sailors (sport) Turkish sportswomen Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Turkish people of German descent Alumni of the University of Sussex Sportspeople from İzmir Norddeutscher Regatta Verein sailors