Sylt PWA WC Tag 4

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Der 4. Tag des Mercedes-Benz Windsurf-Weltcups 2019 brachte einen phänomenalen Actiontag mit großen Umbrüchen und einigen massiven Siegen mit gravierenden Auswirkungen auf die Titelrennen sowohl in der Herren- und Damen-Wellenfleet als auch in bei den Freestylern. All dies geschah während 11 Stunden intensiven Wettkampfes, da Sylt weiterhin eine Vielzahl von Bedingungen bietet, um die besten Surfer der Welt wirklich zu testen. Am Nachmittag war der Wind auflandig und mit der zunehmenden Wellengröße war schon das Aussteigen eine Art Kunstform. Wave Women’s Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) successfully defended her single elimination crown this evening to be crowned the champion of Sylt for the second consecutive year. The Aruban came into Sylt ranked third in the overall rankings, but with Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / AL360) finishing 3rd and Iballa Moreno (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins finishing 5th that means that Offringa now leads the PWA Wave World Tour for the first time in her career heading into the final event of the season in Maui - where she is also the defending champion. Maaike Huvermann (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) started the day in 4th place, but finishes the event with her first wave podium after sneaking her way past - Iballa Moreno, Justyna Sniady & finally Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails)  - to claim second place, which keeps the 21-year-old in 4th place in the overall rankings. Justyna Sniady falls one place from the single to third, while also slipping to second in the world rankings, but as a whole, the event should go down as another huge success for the Pole, who secures her third straight podium. Sniady required stitches in her foot after her last heat of the day and everyone from the PWA wishes her well with her recovery. Sometimes it just not your day and that was the case for reigning world champion - Iballa Moreno - who has to settle for 5th place here. Iballa will now head to Maui knowing that with a discard to come victory in Maui would still guarantee her the wave world title, so there is all still to play for! Men’s Like Offringa, Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) also successfully defended his event title after producing a superb performance to firstly defeat Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) in the Single Elimination Final, before bringing Marcilio Browne’s (Goya Windsurfing) charge back through the double to an end. Traversa made the extremely difficult conditions look comparatively easy and deservedly claims his first victory of the season, which sees him climb to 6th in the overall rankings. Browne was on somewhat of a rampage in the double elimination and the Brazilian deservedly fought his way back from joint 5th in the single to finish second here after winning 6 heats on the bounce. Browne first defeated Ricardo Campello (Brunotti Boards) before going on to also dispatch of Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails), Adam Lewis (Fanatic / Duotone / SWOX), Antoine Martin (JP / NeilPryde), Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / Duotone) and Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) with a combination of excellent double forwards - despite the tricky conditions - and fluid wave riding bringing him plenty of success. Browne’s come back is made all the more impressive due to reports saying that he has also been battling a fever over the last few days. Second place here means that Browne rises to third in the overall rankings and he will head into Maui with every chance of earning a second wave world title. Philip Köster now leads the world tour for the first time this season after completing the podium here with another solid performance. Unfortunately against Browne, Köster looked underpowered and got caught on the inside in the latter part of the heat to rule out any chance of defending his second place from the single. Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / Duotone) climbs two places in the overall rankings to second after a 4th place finish in the double elimination and he too will go to Maui with every chance of adding to his three wave world titles. Fellow world title hopefuls - Ricardo Campello and Jaeger Stone - have lost valuable ground in the title race after 9th and 7th place finishes today. However, they are certainly not out of the equation heading into Maui, while Traversa now also has an outside shot at the title after his victory earlier today. Antoine Martin’s (JP / NeilPryde) fine season continues with the 25-year-old earning his best result in a double elimination on the world tour - 5th - which equals his result from Tenerife, where only a single could be completed. That result sees Martin ranked 6th with an event to go. Elsewhere, Adam Lewis records his best result of the year - 6th - while Marc Paré shares joint 7th with Stone, while Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails), Campello, Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde) and Klaas Voget (Fanatic / Duotone) complete the top ten here. Both Denel and Voget both fought back from the first round of the double elimination. Freestyle Sylt has produced hardcore freestyle conditions for the last few years, and today was no different with strong winds, waves, chop and a lot of current making competing extremely difficult for the world’s best freestylers. However, while conditions may have been tricky to compete in, it also produced the most spectacular Freestyle of the year with huge moves being thrown down by the elite of the freestyle world. By the end of Day 4, the Freestyle world title race has been turned on its head with both Youp Schmit (I-99 / Avanti) and Yentel Caers (I-99 / Point-7) being eliminated from the single elimination in the second round (joint 9th). Meanwhile, their two rivals - Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) and Steven Van Broeckhoven (Starboard / GUNSAILS) - both negotiated their way into the winners’ final and whoever won that final would take the world title race lead. In the end, Vrieswijk claimed a dominant victory in the final to take the world tour lead, but both he and Van Broeckhoven will now face a nail biting wait to see how Schmit and Caers perform in the double as their world title fate remains out of their control.  If either Schmit or Caers is able to climb back into the top 6 then Vrieswijk/Van Broeckhoven are powerless to prevent them from winning a maiden world title. However, in order for Schmit/Caers to recover into at least 6th place they will have to win 4 consecutive heats, which is no mean feet.  Elsewhere, Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins) was at his explosive best today and he currently completes the podium after beating Dieter van der Eyken (Severne / Severne Sails), who had earlier defeated Gollito Estredo (Fanatic / Duotone), in the losers’ final.  van der Eyken also deserves great credit for his sportsmanship today as he continually caddied for several sailors to help them combat the extreme and tiring conditions, and really epitomised that sporting mantra. Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360), Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde), Balz Müller (MB-Boards / Severne Sails) and Gollito currently share 5th place. With lighter winds expected for Tuesday the Freestyle sailors have been given a later skippers’ meeting of 12pm (GMT+2) with a first possible start at 12:30pm. However, with the waves expected to drop quite rapidly overnight, there is plenty of potential to complete the first Foil eliminations of the event. Particularly in the afternoon with 10-13 knot north to northwesterly winds expected. The Foil fleet will meet at 10am with the action commencing from 11am onwards.
To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Germany — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page. Result 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA World Cup - Women's Wave 1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Maaike Huvermann (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 
3rd Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / AL360)
4th Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Iballa Moreno (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) Result 2019 Mercedes-Benz Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men's Wave  1st Thomas Traversa (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
2nd Marcilio Browne (BRA | Goya Windsurfing)
3rd Philip Köster (GER | Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Victor Fernandez (ESP | Fanatic / Duotone)
5th Antoine Martin (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
6th Adam Lewis (GBR | Fanatic / Duotone / SWOX)
7th Jaeger Stone (AUS | Starboard / Severne / SWOX)
7th Marc Paré (ESP | Simmer / Simmer Sails)
9th Alex Mussolini (ESP | RRD / RRD Sails)
9th Ricardo Campello (BRA/VEN | Brunotti Boards)
9th Jules Denel (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Klaas Voget (GER | Fanatic / Duotone) Result Single Elimination 2019 Mercedes-Benz Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men's Freestyle 1st Amado Vrieswijk (NB | JP / Severne)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | Starboard / GUNSAILS)
3rd Adrien Bosson (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Dieter van der Eyken (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Sam Esteve (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Balz Müller (SUI | MB-Boards / Severne)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA | RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)
5th Gollito Estredo (VEN | Fanatic / Duotone)