Seriously? The looks on most of the slalom racers’ faces spoke volumes when the race organisers actually sent them out onto the water at around 11.00. The forecast had predicted heavy rain and very little wind, so hardly anyone was expecting any more races today. However, a small change had a big impact, meaning that by midday it was actually possible to get a race underway well south of the promenade.
By Yesterday, the second semi-final and the finals of Elimination 6 were still to be decided. Benoit Merceur managed to push Matteo Iachino down to second place, though the latter had already secured his place in the grand final. There was a setback for Pierre Mortefon, who had been in the lead in yesterday’s abandoned heat but today, finishing fifth, only made it into the third-place play-off. He went on to win that, ahead of Nico Prien, who, with this tenth-place finish, achieved his best result to date here on Sylt. In the grand final, Iachino and Fabian Wolf – who had already qualified yesterday – fought an exciting battle for victory; it was only in the closing stages that Iachino pulled away to claim his second win here on Sylt.
“I got off to a good start and could feel Fabi right behind me – it was a great race!” Matteo Iachino said afterwards. Fabi Wolf added: “I had good speed on the first leg, but my foil was a bit too big, so I always ended up sailing a bit upwind after the gybes.”
A razor-thin lead for Fabian Wolf
Immediately afterwards, the seventh elimination round got underway, in the hope that the wind would hold out a little longer. In a nail-biting quarter-final duel, Nico Prien secured fourth place and a place in the next round. Nico even briefly led his semi-final and ultimately finished third, reaching the grand final for the first time this year! There, too, he was within striking distance of the leaders and eventually finished fourth.
At the very front, Fabian Wolf and Amado Vrieswijk were locked in a battle: “Amado came from above and I came from below; we reached the first mark at roughly the same time,” said Fabi, describing the final. Thanks to a wide gybe, Wolf came out in the lead, “and then I focused above all on playing it safe and, after every gybe, tried to sail a line that would keep Amado at a distance.” With Vrieswijk’s spectacular comeback and speed from yesterday in the back of his mind, he turned round every two seconds, Fabi continued.
After a poor start, Matteo Iachino was down in sixth place and was unable to move any higher up the field. Thanks to the second elimination round following Elimination 7, there were a few minor changes in the rankings, but it remains particularly thrilling at the very top: Fabian Wolf is now just 0.3 points ahead of Matteo Iachino, whilst Amado Vrieswijk in third place is already seven points behind and, for his part, has a lead of around five points over Pierre Mortefon in fourth place. From Elimination 8, only the first heat could be completed before the wind died down in the rain. The forecast offers a glimmer of hope for further races on Saturday; Friday currently looks set to be virtually windless!
All heats and results can be found at pwaworldtour.com
