Unfortunately, the early skippers' meeting on the third day of the PWA Slalom World Cup in Japan did not pay off, as the wind was thwarted by drizzle under cloudy skies, while the temperatures remained cool throughout.
After spending the morning on standby, the situation improved a little in the afternoon. As it began to brighten, winds of seven to fourteen knots on the course caused a brief flurry of excitement at around 2pm. Unfortunately, however, the wind did not last long enough to finish an entire elimination. Only the first round of the men's fifth elimination could be completed today.
Michele Becker in impressive form
The German left nothing to chance today and secured his place in the quarter-finals of the fifth elimination. Becker won heat three ahead of Jimmy Thieme, Makoto Tomizawa and Tomonori Anami.
Johan Søe flawless after yesterday's slip-up
After yesterday's elimination in the quarter-finals of elimination four, the current event and world ranking leader Johan Søe found himself in the first round of the fifth elimination, but the Dane remained flawless and took the decisive victory ahead of Lo Jun Hao, Youth World Champion John Soukos and Anami Kenta.
It was already over at 3 pm
Cyril Evrard, Lohan Jules, Sota Kanagami and Wearn Haw Tan secured the remaining qualifying places for the quarter-finals in the opening round today.
In the last heat of the day, Bruno Martini was able to claim his place in the quarter-finals. He won heat four ahead of Elia Colombo, Akihiko Yamada and Kouichiro Kaku, who thus secured the last qualifying place for tomorrow's quarter-finals.
The fifth heat of the first round was started several times, but both times there was a false start, which ultimately led to the disqualification of Wearn Haw Tan and Lohan Jules. As the wind did not improve, the riders were dismissed at 3pm.
The ladies didn't get back on the water
The forecast for tomorrow looks more promising: The sky is clearer and north-easterly winds of up to twenty knots are forecast for the morning. This means another early start: The skippers' meeting is scheduled for 7.30am (GMT+9) and the action can start from 8am - depending on conditions. HERE go to the live stream.
Oh, that's interesting:
- PWA Japan: The top favourites for the World Championship title in slalom
- PWA Japan: Everything open in the title race, impressive debut by Lina Eržen
- F4 Foils becomes a PWA member and has big plans
- Johan Søe - How the Dane puts the fear of God into the World Cup elite
- Strong wind freemoveboard - the JP-Australia Magic Move in test
