PWA Guadeloupe: Iachino and Lemeteyer dominate the first races

The third day of the PWA Windsurf World Cup in Guadeloupe finally brought the long-awaited action on the water. After two quiet opening days, the first races of the 2025 season finally got underway yesterday. The conditions proved to be challenging, with changing wind forces between 7 and 20 knots and varying water conditions. This made for spectacular racing, heavy crashes and a few racing incidents.

Dominant performances by the favourites

Reigning world champion Justine Lemeteyer put in an impressive performance in the women's race. Despite a change of sponsor during the winter break, the 22-year-old Frenchwoman proved that she is still the measure of all things. With four wins and two second places in six races, Lemeteyer came out on top of the field. Her consistency at the starts and her high speed underlined her dominance.

The best start to a season I've ever had". (Matteo Iachino)

Italy's Matteo Iachino shone in the men's event. The 35-year-old put in a flawless performance and won all three eliminations of the day. Iachino's ability to adapt to the strongly fluctuating wind conditions was particularly impressive. He won with three different sail sizes, demonstrating his versatility and experience. Iachino himself described it as "the best start to a season I've ever had".

Erzen and Mortefon solid, Cousin as comeback king

Behind the front runners, close duels developed for the other podium places. The 19-year-old Lina Eržen from Slovenia is in second place in the women's race. She managed to beat Lemeteyer in two eliminations, but an early start in the sixth race cost her valuable points. Only 2.6 points behind, Eržen remains within striking distance of the leader. In the men's field, reigning world champion Pierre Mortefon is in second place. The Frenchman showed a consistently strong performance with three second places, but was unable to seriously jeopardise Iachino. Mortefon is 3.9 points behind the leader and will do everything in his power to close the gap in the coming days.

Alexandre Cousin provided a few surprises. The Frenchman twice managed to qualify for the final races from seemingly hopeless positions. His comeback in the third race was particularly spectacular, when he overtook Nico Prien on the last beat. Cousin was rewarded with third place overall in the men's category.

Jordy Vonk was tipped as one of the biggest contenders before the first start, and the Dutchman impressively showed why: he qualified for all three Winners' Finals and finished the day in fourth place, just four points behind third place. Vonk finished fourth, fifth and seventh. There was little variety in the line-up for the final heats, as all of the current top six were involved in all of the Winners' Finals. However, Amado Vrieswijk and Maciek Rutkowski will probably be mourning missed opportunities, as neither of them was really able to compete for victory. The day was less successful for runner-up Danielle Benedetti. The Italian was only able to reach the final in the first race and is only in 22nd place after three rounds.

Prien crash causes discussion, Poggemann in the final for the first time

Things did not go according to plan for Nico Prien either. A collision with Bruno Martini in the B final of the second race cost both drivers valuable points. The crash caused a lot of discussion online: Prien was leading the heat, but was apparently unaware of Martini's presence as he entered the final gybe. Martini sensed an opportunity to slip through on the inside and surprised Prien, which ultimately led to the two of them colliding and retiring.

"I had a good final up until then, but I just didn't see him," Nico reported afterwards in the PWA interview. Was Martini's move too dangerous? "It was somewhere in between," said Nico. "He could have settled for second place and done a normal jibe." Sometimes you just make the wrong decisions. Nevertheless, Nico is still a fan of "No Rules": "I like close races, there's a lot of adrenaline involved, which makes it exciting for the spectators and good for us!" Prien is currently in 18th place, while Martini is in 20th.

I like close races, there's a lot of adrenaline involved, which makes it exciting for the spectators and good for us!" (Nico Prien)

Things didn't go so well for Lars Poggemann in the first two elimination rounds, as the 24-year-old was eliminated twice in the quarter-finals. In the third elimination, however, things "clicked" as he made it to a Winner's Final for the first time and finished the day in sixth place, the best result of his PWA career to date and 13th in the rankings.

Slightly lighter winds of between 9 and 13 knots are expected for the fourth day of competition. This could bring the field closer together and provide further surprises. With races still to be sailed and a cancellation result that comes into effect after the fourth race, everything is still open in both competitions. Skippers meeting is at 8am local time, the first start is scheduled for 9am (2pm or 3pm CEST).

The livestream to watch afterwards

Results PWA World Cup Guadeloupe

Ladies

(after 6 eliminations)

1. Justine Lemeteyer
2. Lina Eržen
3. Blanca Alabau
4. Femke van der Veen
5. Bobbi-Lynn De Jong

Gents

(after 3 eliminations)

1. Matteo Iachino
2. Pierre Mortefon
3. Alexandre Cousin
4. Jordy Vonk
5. Amado Vrieswijk
6. Maciek Rutkowski