The Prince of Speed at the Plage du Rouet in La Palme in the south of France comes to an end today, but the forecast leaves little hope for further best times. This means that there should be no more changes in the rankings and the new speed world champions have been decided.
Vincent Valkenaers from Belgium took the men's title, finishing top of the rankings with the lowest number of points from five runs - with one strike. He also set the top speed of the event with 46.32 knots and even bettered Antoine Albeau's interim best of 45.47 knots. The French World Cup legend finished in third place, with Hans Kreisel from the Netherlands as runner-up.
Heidi Ulrich won the women's event with an almost perfect score, only having to give way to Jenna Gibson in two runs (one of which was a string). The British skier came second, ahead of the two Germans Melek Toraman and Luisa Kolmer. Kolmer also won the Youth Women category.
The best German in the men's race is Andy Laufer in ninth place, his top speed was 42.51 knots. Thorsten Luig finished the Prince of Speed in 15th place, with Nils Bach and Thomas Moldenhauer in 17th and 18th. The German starters were very well represented with Klaus Küppenbender (22nd), Michael Brozia (23rd), Björn Haacke (25th), Tim Otte (26th), Christian Bornemann (27th), Torsten Mallon (28th), Christoph Deus (30th), Arnold Schreurs (36th), Jürgen Thau (39th) and Patrick Oberlender (40th).
In the Windfoil Open category, PWA World Champion Matteo Iachino (35.71 knots) won ahead of William Huppert, Scotty Stallman and Antoine Albeau.
