In bright sunshine, three complete foil slalom eliminations were held yesterday at the start of the California Surf Cup in Westerland on Sylt. Vincent Langer is leading the rankings after the opening day. Things didn't look so good for the reigning GWA Fin Slalom Champion at first. He had a false start in the final of the first elimination and only managed tenth place. Jonne Heimann did not miss this opportunity. He was wide awake straight away and secured the opening victory and 500 euros from partner LVM Versicherungen. He was followed in second place by Dutchman Koen Hessels, who was also delighted to receive 300 euros. Third place went to the youngster Anton Richter, who also received 200 euros in prize money. Meno Büchler and Gunnar Asmussen completed the top 5 in the first elimination.
Vincent Langer makes a strong comeback
Langer then struck back in the second elimination. He got himself back into the title race with a commanding heat win. Jonne Heimann continued to perform well with a second place, while Anton Richter underlined his ambitions for the podium at the GWA Championship with another third place. Alexander Neubert scored points with fourth place ahead of the second Richter brother Leo.
Immediately afterwards, a third elimination was held in excellent conditions. Langer took his second victory in the third race. Gunnar Asmussen showed another strong race with second place, while Jonne Heimann achieved his third podium finish with a third place. Anton Richter had to accept a place outside the podium for the first time at the GWA Championship off Sylt. However, with fourth place in this race, he still has his sights firmly set on the podium. Dutchman Koen Hessels, who is keeping the pressure on the top with a fifth place, is also hoping for the same.
After three races there is the first stringer, so Langer achieves the ideal score of 0.0 with two race wins. He can cancel the early start from the first final. As a result, he leads the GWA Championship after the first day of competition and three races. In second place in the title race is Jonne Heimann, who scored a first and a second place to finish on 2.0 points. Behind him, some way behind, is Anton Richter, who finished third twice to secure 6.0 points. The battle for fourth place was exciting. Koen Hessels and Gunnar Asmussen are neck and neck after the three races so far. Both have scored 7.0 points with a second and a fifth place respectively. It was only in the tie-breaker that Koen Hessels was able to prevail and take fourth place for the time being. Gunnar Asmussen completes the top 5 after day 1.
Waveriding and fin slalom today?
Dutchman Hessels thus also leads the Youth U21 classification after day 1, ahead of Leo Richter (7th place) and Meno Büchler (8th place). In the Youth U19 classification, Anton Richter is in the lead. He is followed by Erik Wehkamp (13th place) and Jesse Richter (17th place). In the Junior U17 classification, Paul Regber came out on top ahead of Jesper Mo Thomsen. At the other end of the age scale, Gunnar Asmussen leads as Master ahead of the Grandmasters Bernd Timme and Thies Paustian.
A wave alert has been issued for today, Wednesdaybut the fin slalom riders are also hoping for a few races in six force north-westerly winds. The California Surf Cup Sylt runs until next Sunday. Then the new GWA Champions 2024 will be crowned at 17:00. Afterwards, the wingfoilers will take over directly and from Tuesday, 30 July, they will compete for the Open German Championship in the Wingfoil Wave at the same location.
