What a day!

01/08/2023

At the end of a day full of twists and turns in Sotavento on Monday, Sarah-Quita Offringa and Nicolas Goyard won the Fuerteventura Windsurf World Cup in style!
30-35 knots, a motocross-like spot and a slalom course including the famous speed run (a long downwind leg), all the ingredients for a great day of racing were in place on Monday for the final day of slalom racing at the Fuerteventura Windsurf World Cup.

At the start of the day, Nicolas Goyard had a meagre lead of just 1.9 points over his rival Johan Soe. In the first race of the day, the Frenchman (still on foil) extended his lead by finishing 2nd behind Pierre Mortefon, who won his first race of the week on fin. Johan Soe, also on fin, could only manage 4th. Unfortunately for Soe, his quest for victory came to a premature end when he broke his mast foot at the start of the final quarter-final. This material failure paved the way for Goyard to win the final elimination of the event and take the top step of the podium. Although disappointed, Johan Soe can still be happy with his performance at the event as it was his first podium finish at a PWA World Tour event with a 2nd place. At just 20 years of age, he has a bright future ahead of him. Italy's Matteo Iachino finished 3rd overall after a solid performance and a great battle with Amado Vrieswijk. Poland's Maciek Rutkowski had a difficult day, missing out on the final of the Elimination 10 and then dropping out of the quarter-finals in the final race of the week. The change in conditions and the switch from foil to fin proved to be a problem for many of the competitors, although Rutkowski remains at the top of the World Championship standings. Pierre Mortefon continues to shine this season and moved up 2 places on the final day to finish 5th. His risk-taking in Elimination 10, when he went down under Goyard and Iachino at the 2nd mark, enabled him to take his 1st victory of the competition, with a fin! Mortefon remains in contention for the world title after the first 3 events.

In the women's race, with a lead of just 4.4 points going into the final day, Sarah-Quita Offringa knows she must remain focused and determined if she is to maintain her lead. ARU-91 showed her impressive mastery by winning the last 2 races of the event. This performance makes her the clear winner of the competition and she'll move on to the Freestyle event on Tuesday! The fight for first place wasn't easy for Offringa though, as Marion Mortefon did everything in her power to dethrone her. After a hat-trick of victories the day before, the reigning World Champion couldn't find that little bit extra to win the event. Nevertheless, Marion Mortefon left Fuerteventura with a fine 2nd place, her best result of the season. Blanca Alabau showed impressive resilience, recovering from a difficult start to take the final podium place. France's Justine Lemeteyer had everything to play for on this final day, but a premature start saw all her dreams and hopes of a podium finish dashed.
After 5 days of rare intensity, the slalomers give way to the freestylers in Sotavento at this Fuerteventura Windsurfing World Cup, with the competition coming to an end on Saturday...