Five days of full-power racing on fin and foil. Fuerteventura truly delivered amazing conditions for the second stop of the PWA World Tour.
SlalomX:
Two out of five days of racing were dedicated to fin racing in the SlalomX discipline. After finishing 4th in Pozo, I was, of course, motivated to gain at least one place to reach the podium. Just like in Pozo, the races were spiced up with a speed run and an obstacle jump.
In all six eliminations, I managed to qualify for the winners’ final, fighting it out for the top 8 positions in each round. After five rounds, it was already clear who would be in the top 4 of the event ranking, as Pierre Mortefon, Matteo Iachino, Taty Frans, and I had a significant advantage over the other competitors. Going into the last elimination, a lot could still happen, so there was a great deal of tension in the final.
In that final, I started great and was leading until the jump. However, not getting a good ramp caused me to lose a place, making it tricky to secure a podium spot. Everything still looked safe until the last gybe, when Matteo pulled off an ‘all or nothing’ maneuver. He needed to finish in the top 2 to win the event, while I needed him to finish behind me to pass Taty in the event ranking. His tactic worked, and I lost the position, resulting in 4th place for the event by just one point and 4th in the year ranking as well.
It was a tough moment. I was consistently among the fastest, but sadly, in the end, it wasn’t enough to reach the podium.
I finished 4th in Pozo, 4th in Fuerteventura, and 4th for the year. It’s not what I had hoped for, as a podium place was definitely possible, but I’m happy to be one of the guys fighting for the wins.
Foil Slalom:
Fuerteventura was also the first event of the Foil discipline, and it was so nice to finally see where I stand with my foil skills at the highest level.
Last year, I struggled to make the semi-finals; this year, I made all of them, so that’s already a big step up. I was regularly winning some heats and felt confident on the foil, which I’m super happy about.
After seven eliminations, I finished 9th, which I’m pleased with. I still made some mistakes and can definitely finish higher, but I showed great race pace and a significant improvement compared to last year, so I’ll take that for now.
We still have Sylt and Japan coming up as World Tour stops, so I’m looking forward to further improving there!
