PWA Gran Canaria

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After a slow start to the penultimate day of the 2017 Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival the wind and waves eventually returned to provide a short window of competable conditions, which saw two of the Youth categories in action again - the 14-15 & 16-18 year olds - while only the top 4 women - Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) and Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic) - and the top 5 men - Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses), Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails), Ricardo Campello (Point-7) and Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) - remain standing in the double eliminations after another couple of hours of competition.  Women’s Double Elimination Justyna Sniady continued her comeback through the double elimination as she firstly dispatched of teammate Sarah Hilder (Simmer / Simmer Sails) before winning a tight battle against Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne). Sniady then went on to cause the upset of the day as she produced an inspired performance to take down last year’s world No.3 - Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) - to claim quite possibly the biggest scalp of her career so far. The Pole landed a super clean backloop and a stylish forward, while linking together a solid wave to progress with Offringa unable to reply for once as she struggled to land a pushloop. Sniady was understandably delighted and released a few tears of joy upon hearing the result and  will now meet Lina Erpenstein in the battle for third and fourth.  Men’s Marcilio Browne continued his fine form today as the Brazilian won three consecutive heats today to move up to a minimum of 5th place. The Brazilian was unlucky to meet an on fire Ricardo Campello in just the 3rd round of the single elimination, but has since fought his way back from 9th place with a series of polished performances, which saw the 2013 PWA Wave World Champion defeat Omar Sanchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail), Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) and Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX) with outstanding double forwards and dynamic wave riding inflicting much of the damage. Browne will now have a chance to exact revenge against Campello in the fight for fourth and fifth - providing there are enough conditions to compete tomorrow.  Close Call  Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) claimed the narrowest of victories over Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) with under half a point separating the two sailors by the end of the heat. However, that would be as far as Bruch would go as Robby Swift ended his hopes in the very next round, which leaves Bruch in joint 7th with Adam Lewis.  Swift finished joint 9th in the single elimination, but has sailed superbly in the double to fight his way back into an excellent 6th place. The Brit has consistently landed excellent double forwards, while banging out several tweaked frontside airs today and he needed to be at the top of his game to take out Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) and Bruch, but Browne proved too good on this occasion.  Youth’s Boy’s 16-18 Year Olds There was a turn up for the books in the 16-18 year olds division as Miguel Chapuis (JP / NeilPryde) came out on top today as he landed a radical tweaked pushloop and a backloop, while Jake Schettewi (JP / Hot Sails Maui) claimed second place after landing backloops and pushloops, but Noah Vocker (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins) had to settle for third after a bit of a disappointing performance in the final. In the heat prior the 17-year-old had been on fire, but then was somewhat off the pace. However he still leads the rankings with one day to go.  14-15 Year Olds Marino Gil (Goya Windsurfing) once again dominated proceedings in the 14-15 year olds division and the 14-year-old now holds an almost unassailable lead ahead of Mike Friedl (Goya Windsurfing) - who came through the repechage round to eventually finish second today, which moves him into second in the overall rankings as well. As things stand Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails) currently occupies the final place on the podium just ahead of Adam Warchol (Goya Windsurfing) just ahead of 4th.  The forecast for tomorrow predicts less wind for tomorrow with similar wave conditions as today, so hopefully there will be enough of a window to allow the double eliminations to be completed. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+1) onwards. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow the final day live.  To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Pozo — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page. Current Ranking Women's Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival *Positions may change from 4th place onwards 1st Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 3rd Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) 4th Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic) 5th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) Current Ranking Men's Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival -  *Positions may change from 5th place onwards 1st Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Victor Fernández Official (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 3rd Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) 4th Ricardo Campello (Point-7) 5th Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) 6th Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX) 7th Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 7th Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) 9th Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) 9th Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 9th Omar Sanchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail) 9th Moritz Mauch (Severne / Severne Sails) Result 15-18 Year Old Girls 1st Nicole Bandini (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Alexa Escherich (JP / NeilPryde) 3rd Maike Lang (NorthSails) 4th Regina Villegas  Result Under 14s Girls 1st Mar de Arce (Point-7) 2nd Julia Pasquale (Goya) 3rd Maria Morales (Goya) Result 16-18 Year Old Boys 1st Noah Vocker (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Jake Schettewi (JP / Hot Sails Maui) 3rd Valentino Pasquale (Fanatic / NorthSails) 4th Miguel Chapuis (JP / NeilPryde) 5th Henri Kolberg (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui) Result 14-16 Year Old Boys 1st Marino Gil (Goya Windsurfing) 2nd Mike Friedl (Goya Windsurfing) 3rd Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails) 4th Adam Warchol (Goya Windsurfing) 5th Oliver Rodgriguez (Goya Windsurfing) Result Under 13s Boys 1st Jahdan Tyger (Severne) 2nd Liam Dunkerbeck (Severne) 3rd Pepe Krause 4th Miguel Casanova Perez