3 questions to Adrien Bosson

05/10/2022

After coming so close to the world title in 2018 and 2021, the third time is the charm for French freestyler Adrien Bosson who has just been crowned in Sylt, Germany, at the Mercedes-Benz Windsurf World Cup Sylt. For Windsurfjournal.com, he looks back on this victory and this well deserved crown!

Windsurfjournal.com : Like last year, the world title was decided on a single event, how did you approach this event in Sylt and how did you prepare yourself?
Adrien Bosson : Unfortunately, the season was very poor in freestyle events, both in FPT and PWA. After last year's PWA in Carro, the calendars came out and the 2022 season looked good with the end of the Covid and the return of competitions. So I had a great winter sailing at home in South Africa and Fuerte in the Canaries. As soon as the season started again at my windsurfing club, I continued to sail whenever I could. I was feeling pretty fit, but more importantly, I was motivated to get back into the contests hard. Towards the end of June, in one week, 1 PWA event and 3 FPT events were cancelled... It was a blow to my morale and in the end I spent the whole summer season at home working at the club, as in 2020 and 2021. It was great but I didn't sail too much and there was very little wind during the summer. I was able to recover from the season at the beginning of September, and then there were several windy days during which I was able to get back into shape. There was a good session in Carro in September, the conditions were great that day. So I arrived in Sylt in pretty good shape and with the desire to do well. I didn't put too much pressure on myself at the beginning because I spent the summer giving wingfoil lessons.

WJ: How did you deal with Jacopo Testa's comeback in the double elimination, his victory and finally your victory in the super final?
AB: It was hard to handle for different reasons. Firstly because I was in the position where I had everything to lose. Secondly the conditions, we had lighter wind than expected. Jacopo Testa is lighter than I am and is extremely strong in 5.2, which he proved with the best scores on Sunday. I always tend to stress more when I'm underpowered because it gives me less opportunity to send tricks and also because I've always been able to express myself better when underpowered. And finally I was in the same situation as in 2018 against Gollito, I had won the single in strong wind, and then I had to fight in the double to keep my place with technical conditions... Mentally, it was really hard, and I didn't want a third place finish. I could see my friends in la Coudou calling me an eternal second! When I attacked the super final, I knew that it was not at all to my advantage, I fell a lot at the beginning and I was stuck at times. Jacopo was going around me in 5.2. In the end I managed to complete my trick sheet, nothing extraordinary but all the moves were there, I did everything to get the heat done completely. When I got out of the water, I had no idea how Jacopo had sailed. I thought that if he had sailed like the previous heat, it was dead for me... And luckily this was not the case! So I found myself back in the score in the last seconds of the heat, and the suspense was long afterwards. I won by 0.1 points, which was unhoped for considering my situation. Many times I've had bad luck, and this time it was to my advantage. Maybe that's what I was missing in the last few years to get to the top of the podium.

WJ: After 2018 and 2021 and your runner-up titles, the third time was finally the charm, how does this long awaited title inspire you and how is it important for the rest of your career?
AB: Since 2016, the year in which I started to make podiums, I told myself that I could now play for the title. And that became my goal in the following seasons. I really wanted to win this title, especially after two runner-up titles. So it's an achievement after many hours on the water and on land, training, many defeats, doubts, a few victories, lots of trips, discoveries. There was a lot of fun and also a lot of effort to get to this point and I never gave up despite the difficulties encountered. So, it's also a relief to be in first place. Freestyle is the most accessible discipline, many of us have been chasing podiums and the title. I tell myself that I am very lucky to be able to bring back the cup and now carry the title of world champion. For the future, I think I will always want to perform in competition in the next few years because I love it, training and then competing. I hope to be able to work on new things with my sponsors, especially doing trips and video. Freestyle has taken a hit with the Covid, a lot of riders have stopped and others have taken up wingfoil. I hope I can motivate the next generations through results, images and my club.