Two world champion titles are still up for grabs this year: The last PWA event of the season will decide the women's and men's foil world championships. From 13 to 16 November, the foilers will be competing at the Fly! ANA Yokosuka Miura Windsurf World Cup against the breathtaking backdrop of Mount Fuji. We take a look at the favourites!
Ladies: Justine Lemeteyer on a title defence mission - and a comeback
For many years, slalom racers were the ones with the most events in the rankings at the end of the season. But in 2025, the women have just two contests on the calendar: Guadeloupe in March and now Japan - the women's race on Sylt was cancelled at short notice. Slips are therefore out of the question, every heat counts. Justine Lemeteyer, who celebrated her first World Championship title last year, goes into the final as the leader and favourite after her victory in Guadeloupe. The Frenchwoman has just become national champion on fin and foil, but had a bit of a slump in the summer.
Her two closest pursuers, Lina Erzen and Blanca Alabau, are waiting for their chance; Alabau already became world champion in Japan in 2023. It will all depend on who is particularly consistent, especially as newcomers such as Bobbi-Lynn de Jong and Damla Kurtdemir from Turkey can always cause surprises. The many female starters who are hardly known in the World Cup so far, such as Mariana Aguilar from Mexico, Farrah Hall from the USA, Kataya Coelho from India or the many Japanese locals, are a blank slate.
And another name could shake up the World Cup: Marion Mortefon has spontaneously decided to take part in Japan after her maternity leave. "With a healthy pregnancy and a sweet birth, I had the chance to get back on Board easily" wrote the 2022 world champion on Instagram. Can she be right back at the front?
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Men: Matteo Iachino way out in front
At least the men's foil fleet has one more event on the calendar, but there is still not much room for slip-ups, as there would only be a discard if there would be four or more contests. Matteo Iachino is well on his way to winning his third World Championship title after 2016 and 2023; the Italian is travelling to Japan with a 300-point lead. There is a peculiarity in the scoring: while Guadeloupe started with 10,000 points for the winner, there were 10,300 points for first place on Sylt - the PWA regulations provide for this jump in points if there are more than three eliminations. The following places then each receive 100 points less. In other words, a good position on Sylt was worth more than the same result on Guadeloupe.
This was particularly hard on second-placed Pierre Mortefon, who finished "only" fourth on Sylt after his forced change of equipment in the middle of the season. Nevertheless, the defending champion is also one of the top favourites in Japan once he has familiarised himself with his new equipment.Mortefon only has a chance of winning the World Championship title if he wins and Iachino finishes no higher than fourth. However, the Italian has impressed so far this year with his unwavering consistency and virtually no slip-ups.
"The Beast" Johan Søe in victory mode
And then there's a certain Johan Søe... The Dane appeared almost unbeatable on Sylt. However, in the first half of the year he focussed on the iQFOiL World Championship in his home town of Aarhus and missed Guadeloupe as a result. Without a discard, he is therefore out of the World Championship race, but in his current form "The Beast" is the absolute top favourite to win the event in Japan; he also won here last year.
Maciek Rutkowski should not be overlooked: after finishing sixth in Guadeloupe, the Pole showed a strong upward trend with third place in Sylt, perhaps fuelled by his Successful Baltic Sea crossing. With a deficit of 300 and 600 points respectively on first and second place, Rutkowski has little realistic chance of winning his second World Championship title since 2022, but he is always good for one or more "bullets" and an event podium. Especially as Maciek will do everything he can to defend his third place in the World Championship.
Two German riders are registered for the Fly! ANA Yokosuka Miura Windsurf World Cup, Nico Prien is already in the country and exploring Omaezaki. Fabian Wolf has also announced his participation.
