Hvide Sande PWA Day 3

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Nach einer eintägigen Windpause konnte heute, am dritten Tag des Hvide Sande PWA-Worldcups, eine weitere Elimination sowohl bei den Damen als auch bei den Herren abgeschlossen werden. Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) gewann, ist wieder im Titelrennen dabei und übt etwas Druck auf Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) die bislang Führende aus. Tolles Ergebnis für Vincent Langer (Fanatic / North Sails) er zeigte eine einwandfreie Leistung und gewann zum ersten mal eine Elimination auf der PWA-World-Tour. Women’s Elimination 2 Lena Erdil fought back on day three to keep her title aspirations alive by claiming victory in the second elimination. Erdil had started well on the opening day, but finished a disappointing 7th in the opening race, so the 27 year old knew it was imperative to produce a strong showing if she wanted to remain in the title race.  Victory today sees Erdil rise to 3rd in the event rankings, which keeps her in contact with Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins), who still leads the event and world rankings. The reigning world champion led the winners’ final into the first mark, but failed to make a clean exit from the first gybe and had to settle for 3rd place. However, Offringa, is still firmly in control with a 3.3 point advantage at the top of the rankings.  After a disappointing opening elimination Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) also fought back with an excellent 2nd place — coping superbly under pressure to keep Offringa at bay after an intense battle, which saw a photo finish as they crossed the finish line and the youth world champion rises to 7th in Hvide Sande.  Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / Gun Sails) currently holds 2nd place in the event rankings after a 4th place finish today, but the two-time word champion may have been hoping for slightly more as she goes in search of world title No.3. Elsewhere, Maja Dziarnowska (RRD / RRD) continued her excellent start to life on the PWA Slalom World Tour as the Pole qualified for another winners’ final before finishing 6th, which leaves her in 4th at the close of day three. Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) produced a superb last gybe in the semifinals to cut inside Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7) to claim the last spot in the winners’ final — eventually finishing 8th to back up her 9th place in the opening race.  Elimination 3 The opening round of the third race was also completed and there has already been several upsets with Marion Dusart (Patrik / Gun Sails), Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) all falling in the quarterfinals.  Meanwhile, María Andrés (Fanatic / NorthSails) did well to navigate her way into the semifinals from an unlikely looking position in Heat 3 — showing excellent pace and gybes to reel in her rivals to secure 4th behind Cousin Questel, Maëlle Guilbaud (Patrik / Loft Sails) and Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7). Men’s Elimination 2 Winners’ Final Vincent Langer (Fanatic / NorthSails) won both his quarter and semifinal in comprehensive fashion and continued his rich vein of form into the final. The German showed superb straight-line speed to hold the lead into the opening buoy ahead of Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails), Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7), Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses) and from here Langer continued to extend his lead and was soon celebrating his first bullet on the world tour. Meanwhile, Van der Steen and Albeau bounced back from quarterfinal exits in the opening race to secure 2nd and 3rd place respectively with Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) finishing 4th. Matteo Iachino claimed 5th place in the winners’ final, which sees the Italian rise to the top of the event rankings after the current world tour leader — Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) — missed out on a place in the winners’ final after a 5th place finish in Heat 14. The Frenchman then limited the damage by finishing 10th in Race 2 to remain 2nd overall — but Iachino now holds a 3.3 point lead at the top. Denmark’s Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) produced a couple of cranking gybes in the quarters and semis to out manoeuvre his rivals around the buoys to book his place in the winners’ final. After an 8th place finish Kornum breaks into the current top 10 — 7th. Elimination 3 The major story of the men’s third race involves 23-time world champion — Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde), who looked as though he was set to recover from a slow first day. However, after his 3rd place finish in the previous race, AA, was eliminated from Heat 9 in tricky, light and gusty conditions, while Ross Williams, Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde), Ethan Westera (JP / GA Sails) and Nicolas Goyard (RRD / Point-7 / Mystic) all progressed. Albeau will now either have to pray for no more wind, so that this race cannot be completed, or that there is sufficient wind to allow for 7 races to be finished — bringing two discards into play. The day was drawn to a close shortly before 7pm with the conditions failing to improve. The forecast for tomorrow still offers some possibility for further racing, however, WindGuru predicts less wind than today with 9-14 knots. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+2). Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream. To see all the latest from the event — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page. Current Rankings Hvide Sande PWA World Cup — Women’s Slalom 1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / Gun Sails)  3rd Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) 4th Maja Dziarnowska (RRD / RRD) 5th Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7) Current Rankings Hvide Sande PWA World Cup — Men’s Slalom 1st Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7)  2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) 3rd Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails) 4th Vincent Langer (Fanatic / NorthSails) 5th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) 6th Andrea Cucchi (Starboard / Point-7) 7th Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) 8th Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde) 9th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 10th Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)