Elena Šandera

  • Home
  • About
  • Newsroom
  • Sponsors
  • Contact
  • 🏄‍♀️ Help me get to LA 2028
    Lorem

    Extraordinary path leads to extraordinary success.

    I have a dream. Admittedly, a bit of a crazy dream: It is my goal to qualify Switzerland in the windsurf class for the Olympics 2024 in less than 4 years.

    Why is this project nothing short of extreme? Before January 2021 I was barely able to windsurf and over the course of three years I will need to acquire all the knowledge of an Olympic windsurfer and compete against athletes that have been on this path for decades.

    I am convinced that with the right mindset and support I can achieve this ambitious goal. I want to push my limits, explore my boundaries and step out of my comfort zone. My path will be unconventional and extraordinary.

    I want to organise my Olympic Campaign on my own terms. Coming from a medical background, I believe that science is my best friend. I am basing my project heavily on research and collecting data from sports doctors, nutritionists, high performance coaches and Olympic medalists in order to create a game plan that is backed up by science.

    I also believe that while windsurfing is an individual sport, working in a team will make me stronger and a better athlete. With other female windsurfers and an incredible windsurf coach, I have created the team of my dreams. Each of us have different perspectives and ideas on how to develop our skills as training partners and we believe that together we can achieve our dream.

    Help me get to LA 2028

    About me

    I’m 21 years old and in the beginning of 2021 I decided to embark on an exciting and life changing adventure that is continuing to help me grow into the best version of myself. After completing my high school diploma and starting medical school, I re-discovered my passion for windsurfing.
    The sport which I learned as a six year old and which was a summer hobby during my whole life had developed over time and a new technique was introduced: The foil.

    This hydrodynamic fin allows the surfboard loose contact with the water and accelerate to high speeds, even in the lightest winds. I was fascinated by this new way of windsurfing and when I found out that Windfoiling was to be the new Olympic Windsurf Class, I was sold.
    My whole life I loved to push myself to the very best and to not give up until I had reached all the goals I set for myself. High School graduation with very high grades? Check. Exchange year in Australia at just 16 years old? Check. Starting medical school at 18? Check.

    I felt like it was time to go bigger. And it does not get much bigger than competing at the Olympics, does it? To reach this goal I will had to go all in: change my living style (van life, hello!), say goodbye to the country I’ve lived in my whole life, leave friends behind, make new ones along the road and most importantly; explore my mental and physical limits.


    While I have already encountered some hardships along the way, nothing has ever felt more right than following this path. If you are keen on joining me on my way to the Olympics 2024 (and also 2028), feel free to check out my other social platforms such as instagram, facebook and linkedIn.

    World of Windsurfgirls

    After just a year of learning how to windsurf and trying to navigate this new found lifestyle and goal, I realized that while competing for the Olympics was great, it felt like something was missing.

    So in the winter of 2022 I founded World Of Windsurfgirls (WOW) with my training partner in order to give back to the community that has allowed me to embark on this journey in the first place

    World of Windsurfgirls is an independent sailing team of female athletes with different nationalities, all of us aiming for the gold medal in Paris 2024. This approach to the Olympic Games has never been done before in Olympic Windsurfing.

    The road to the Olympics is a platform that we use to empower and inspire. Our mission is to empower the next generation of dreamers to take their fate into their own hands and find their own path. World of Windsurfgirls is a movement, a movement which helps people to dream, dare and do.