Offringa Slalom World Champion for fourth time

Sarah-Quita Offringa is crowned Slalom World Champion for fourth time in the PWA Windsurfing World Cup in Hvide Sande, Denmark.

The last week in Denmark saw virtually the whole spectrum of slalom conditions it is possible to compete it, which provided the most all-round test of the season so far with winds anywhere from eight knots right up to 45 knots testing the sailor’s mettle and resolve against whatever Hvide Sande had to throw at them.
 

Women’s
In the women’s division each day saw one of the main title contenders – Sarah-Quita Offringa, Delphine Cousin Questel and Lena Erdil – stake their claim for the event title, while trying to keep their world title aspirations alive.

Current vice-world Lena Erdil won the battle on the opening day as the Turkish beauty clinched the first bullet of the week before backing it up with a solid second place to lead the event at the end of day two – after a windless first day.

However, after that bright start, Erdil saw her title challenge derail for the second year in a row in Hvide Sande after a disappointing run of results on the following days, which saw Erdil slip outside of the podium places at an event for the first time since August 2015.

Despite a poor end to the event Erdil remains in second place the overall rankings but will face a stern challenge in the season finale in New Caledonia to defender place on the overall podium.

With Erdil’s challenge falling by the wayside that left Offringa and Cousin Questel to battle it out, but after Day four it looked as the Aruban had all but wrapped up the 2017 PWA Women’s Slalom World Championship after the multiple time world champion reeled off a hat-trick of bullets to take a stranglehold over the event and world title race.

However, Cousin Questel hadn’t given up hope yet of denying Offringa and the former two-time world champion produced a rousing performance on Day five by taming the storm force winds to secure two clinical bullets which hauled her back into contention, while setting up an intense final day battle. If Cousin Questel could win the final elimination of the week she would snatch the event victory from Offringa’s hands and force the title race into a decider in New Caledonia.

The final race couldn’t have been any more dramatic as every girl – including Offringa – was disqualified from the opening semifinal for sailing the wrong course – presenting Cousin Questel with a dream scenario to stage a stunning comeback with just five girls left to compete in the winners’ final.

The 26-year-old led, as many would’ve expected, into the opening gybe, but then disaster struck as she dropped her gybe – and with the light winds – Cousin Questel was left powerless as she watched her title hope dreams fade away for another year.

One persons misery was another’s joy – and relief – as Offringa was let off the hook for a rare mistake and after barely putting a foot wrong all season she deservedly wraps up this year’s Women’s PWA Slalom World Championship with an event to spare – which is her 4th slalom world title and her 14th overall – after collecting her 10th PWA Freestyle World Championship earlier this year.

Marion Mortefon saw her incredible consistency (five top three finishes out of the seven races completed – including victory in the last) rewarded to earn her second podium of the season, which brings her firmly into contention for the overall podium as she will now hope to discard her 11th place from Japan.

The 25-year-old will be battling it out against Cousin Questel, Erdil and Maëlle Guilbaud – who remains on course for her best season on the world tour after another solid performance in Denmark – fifth – which sees her remain third in the overall rankings with an event to go.

Elsewhere, debutant Jenna Gibson caught the eye as she finished third in the first elimination of the week, before wrapping up the event with another third to take home an impressive sixth place in her opening event and she could be one to watch.

Men’s
Antoine Albeau bounced back from an uncharacteristically slow start, which saw him finish 10th and 4th in the opening two races to eventually seal his third event in a row as the 23-time world champion remains firmly on course for another world title.

After that slow start, by his standards, Albeau then activated beast mode to win four consecutive races, which shot him to the top the event rankings. With the wind not arriving until mid-afternoon on the final day, Albeau was officially crowned the winner of the event before the completion of the last race – with AA just out of the reach of reigning world champion Matteo Iachino.

In the preview, we stated that Iachino looked to be back to his absolute best and he showed that from the start in Denmark as he made a perfect start to the event with two bullets. However, there was nothing he or anyone could do against Albeau in the howling winds of Day four and despite winning Elimination seven – his third victory of the week – the Italian missed out by just 0.3 of a point.

The title race now looks as though it will be a two-man fight between Albeau and Iachino with Pierre Mortefon  losing valuable ground to his two rivals. The Frenchman sailed solidly again to secure fifth place, but you’d have to feel he would need to win both of the remaining events and have Albeau and Iachino both underperform to have any chance. However, he remains firmly in the hunt for the overall top three.

At this stage Ross Williams is Mortefon’s biggest rival with the two heavyweights tied on points – 3010 – after the Brit recorded back-to-back podiums with another excellent performance. Williams held off a stern challenge from good friend Arnon Dagan on the final day to defend third place, with Dagan having to settle for fourth, but he will be happy to have bounced back from a disappointing 36th place in Fuerteventura and one more good result would see him rise back into the overall top 10 – currently 13th.

Julien Quentel rises to fifth in the overall rankings after being able to discard his 20th place from Costa Brava after producing a solid performance, which never saw him finish outside the top 16. Quentel’s consistency saw him finish sixth in Denmark.

Maciek Rutkowski made a bright start to the week with three top 10 finishes in a row (8th, 6th, 10th), but then faced a wobble in the middle of the event after third round and quarterfinal exits in Elimination four and five. In the past the Pole may have crumbled but this week he found the tenacity and mental resolve to bounce back – taking advantage of Amado Vrieswijk’s mistake in the final race to snatch the last place in the winners’ final – where he would record his best result of the week – fifth – which deservedly earns the 25th year old his best result since 2014 – where he also finished seventh in Sylt.

Antoine Questel has been Mr. Consistent throughout the season and the Frenchman maintained his form over the last week to record his third top 10 finish of the year – eighth – here in Hvide Sande, which sees him rise one place to seventh in the overall rankings. 

Tristan Algret flies into the overall top 10 after an excellent week which saw him claim ninth place in Denmark.

The former PWA Youth World Champion is still only 23-years-old, but already looks to becoming of age with added consistency and maturity in each of his performances this year.

Algret will now be determined to maintain his current level of performance in the remaining two events as he is currently on course to smash his previous best of 18th overall in 2015.

Brazilian Mateus Isaac seems to enjoy sailing in Denmark. The 23-year-old claimed eighth place here in 2016 and enjoyed another fine week to finish 10th, which is his best result of the season by far.

Elsewhere, Pascal Toselli just missed out on his third top 10 finish in a row after being nudged out to 11th place on the final day, but the Frenchman still rises to sixth place the overall rankings after being able to discard his 29th place from Korea.

With two events to go Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Cyril Moussilmani complete the overall top 10, but they have Marco Lang and Sebastian Kördel right on their tails. Lang now sits in 11th after recovering brilliantly from a disappointing result in Japan, while Kördel slips outside the overall top 10 for the first time season after a bright start in Denmark quickly faded after a run of poor results.

The second edition of the Waterz Hvide Sande PWA World Cup was even better than last year – with many classing the fourth day of racing as some of the best they have ever competed in. The last week saw some incredible racing and plenty of drama that you couldn’t have scripted and the PWA would like to extend their thanks to the organisers and the local people for their hospitality and we look forward to hopefully returning in 2018.

You can review all the news from Denmark— including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.