Highlights: Day 2 at the World Cup Sylt - Rutkowski in the lead, Kördel in sixth place

After the wind weakened a little in the morning, there were constant five to eight knots from midday - enough to start the first slalom. As expected, all the riders were on foils, with Thomas Goyard in particular in the spotlight. However, the foil specialist and reigning world champion got off to a bad start and was eliminated on his first run after his foil came out of flight in the jibe and the rest overtook him. Goyard was also unable to pose a threat to the leading group in the other eliminations.

Things went better for Sebastian Kördel, who won his first quarter-final, then came second and then finished seventh in the final. But then there was a moment of shock for the man from Lake Constance. He hit the shorebreak with the foil on the way in after the final, broke the fuselage and lost the front wing. But despite a pit stop-like reorganisation, Kördel kept his cool, crossed the finish line twice in second place in the second elimination and took fifth place in the final, followed by eighth place in the third heat and a sixth place in the fourth elimination.

This puts Kördel in sixth place overall after the first day. "The conditions weren't that easy today. But in the end I finished in the top ten four times, which is a very good start on Sylt," summarised Sebastian Kördel. Due to the relatively small field, the quarter-finals could be started straight away, and the regatta organisers consistently ran the heats. With four scored heats, there is already a string in it, a maximum of 15 eliminations can be sailed during the event.

Click through the highlights of the day at the World Cup Sylt:

Nico Prien also rode consistently, the Starboard developer finished in the top 16 in all eliminations and is in 14th place after the first day. Malte Reuscher was able to count an out in the first round as a stringer and is in 17th place.

Rider of the day was clearly Maciek Rutkowski. The Pole, who was already part of the top group before the coronavirus break and won his first event in 2019, impressed with his impressive consistency and coolness. When he was only in fifth place after the first jibe in the semi-final of the third elimination and would have missed out on the grand final, he remained focussed and managed to push past Jordy Vonk into fourth place. The final was particularly exciting: Rutkowski and Matteo Iachino fought a neck-and-neck race with the lead constantly changing hands. "I was faster against the waves, Matteo and Bruno (Martini) with the waves. In the last gybe I rode close and got to the front," reported the Pole. At the end of the day, Rutkowski had two wins and one second and one third place on his scoresheet, putting him in the lead in the event standings.

Pierre Mortefon and Matteo Iachino took second and third place in the intermediate standings. Mortefon won the first elimination, but got off to a bad start in his semi-final in the second heat. Despite catching up, he crossed the line in fifth place, just behind Isaac, and ultimately had to settle for tenth place in the small final. Iachino was also very consistent with two second places and a third, while a ninth place was not counted as a stripper.

Behind him, Amado Vrieswijk was the surprise package of the day in fourth place. In the second elimination, things didn't go well for the man from Bonaire, who is now focussing almost entirely on racing. At the end of the day, however, he managed a victory in the fourth run, which made him forget his slip-up.

Standings after four eliminations (one string)

1. Maciek Rutkowski
2. Pierre Mortefon
3. Matteo Iachino
4. Amado Vrieswijk
5. Mateus Isaac
6th Sebastian Kördel
7th Johan Soe
8th Luuc van Opzeeland
9th Enrico Marotti
10. Sebastian Kornum
14th Nico Prien
17th Malte Reuscher

The World Cup continues tomorrow

The forecast promises crisp winds of up to 38 knots from the south-west, so it's going to be rough! The riders have to get out early, the skippers' meeting is at 7.00 am. The provisional plan is to start with freestyle and switch to wave riding around midday when the waves have built up.

• Who will be world champion and when? All scenarios at a glance

Why is there no livestream of the World Cup Sylt?

Many people were wondering why the usual livestream was not available today. We enquired with the PWA and the livestream fell victim to the omnipresent budget bottlenecks. We were assured that the live scoring in wave and freestyle will still be available on the PWA website!

Björn Dunkerbeck becomes a Laureus ambassador

There was another highlight on land: Björn Dunkerbeck was officially named a Laureus ambassador. Philip Köster, who is also an ambassador for the charitable organisation, presented the 42-time world champion with the certificate. He then went to the surf tent for the signing ceremony.

Also interesting:

• Interview with Maciek Rutkowski: "It was like Hollywood "
• These are the rules of the World Cup