Germany's current best slalom World Cup racers Nico Prien and Fabian Wolf travelled to Lake Garda for the IFCA European Slalom Championships with a mission. Fabian Wolf is currently enjoying his best season in the PWA Foil Slalom World Cup. At the last World Cup on Sylt, he started with top placings, but had to settle for tenth place in the end after breaking his foil, which was still his best World Cup result to date. He wanted to prove his top form again on Lake Garda. The foil slalom off Sylt was a bitter disappointment for Nico Prien. All the greater was the motivation to be able to attack again at the "Lago" with the fin.
Large and strong field in the men's competition
The Circolo Surf Torbole had once again perfectly organised a major windsurfing event. The start lists in the fin slalom and foil slalom disciplines for men and women featured over 90 participants. The men's foil slalom with 44 and the men's fin slalom with 31 starters were the best filled. There were significantly fewer starters in the women's event (8 with fin, 9 with foil). Justine Lemeteyer, the 2024 PWA Foil World Champion, kept an almost completely clean slate. The Frenchwoman won 11 of the 15 foil races, but finished second in the final result due to the three strike results as her worst race. Only Lina Erzen from Slovenia was able to win four races on the foil, placing her in second place. Blanca Alabau from Spain completed the women's podium. Lemeteyer even won all 12 eliminations in the final slalom and confidently took the Euro title. Femke van der Veen from the Netherlands also took second place unchallenged ahead of 17-year-old Charlotte Philip from France. Unfortunately, there were no German surfers at the start in either discipline.
Fabi Wolf and Nico Prien in the top 3
The men's fields, on the other hand, featured numerous established World Cup pros. First and foremost in the foil slalom was the current dominator Johan Soe. The 22-year-old Dane knows how to handle the currently superior Patrik Foil a little better than everyone else. He won all five eliminations. Right behind him, Fabian Wolf secured the European Championship runner-up title. The man from Kiel thus underlined his current outstanding form. He also uses Patrik's Aeon foil. Experienced worldcupper Jordy Von finished behind Wolf on the podium. The top five was completed by Frenchman Alexis Mathis and Greek high-flyer John Soukos. Nico Prien came seventh and Malte Reuscher 10th, with the other Germans finishing 16th, Lars Poggemann, 31st, Jonas Naumann, 34th, Lars Wichmann and 44th, Maxi Räuchle.
In the Fin Slalom, the European Championship title and the places on the podium were fiercely contested. Jordy Vonk came out on top relatively clearly after four runs and brought the European title home to the Netherlands. Behind him it was extremely close. The "Master" Taty Frans was able to win two heats, but also had to take a seventh place in the classification. In the end, he only had a wafer-thin 0.6-point lead over Nico Prien. After the disastrous foil result on Sylt (he is one of the few not allowed/able to use Patrik foils), he was understandably extremely satisfied with his performance with the fin on Lake Garda. Behind him, places four to six were only separated by three points. Malte Reuscher finished equal fourth with local hero Bruno Martini. Sixth place went to French junior Sacha Fortune.
The other German placings: 9th Fabian Wolf; 26th Adrian Hölzl; 29th Florian Seitz; 31st Maxi Räuchle
