PWA World Cup Tenerife 2025: First win for Nico Prien - Mortefon still in the lead

The fourth competition day of the Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam was supposed to belong to the waveriders. The race organisers hoped for acceptable conditions for a long time, but the wind didn't play ball. So in the afternoon they switched back to Slalom X, the conditions were sufficient for the largest equipment. However, the combination of swell and chop in El Médano presented the riders with challenges and led to some surprising results. The right timing of the gybes in combination with the swell proved to be a decisive factor for success. With Jordy Vonk, Pierre Mortefon and Nico Prien, three different athletes were able to prevail in the three completed eliminations. Mortefon nevertheless extended his lead in the overall standings and consolidated his position in the battle to defend the Slalom X title.

Pierre Mortefon made a rare mistake in the first race of the day: the Frenchman crashed in his final jibe in the final and dropped from second to eighth position, which temporarily dropped him from first to third place in the overall standings. However, the reigning world champion in Slalom X and Foil Slalom proved his class and quickly returned to his usual form. He secured his second win in three races in Elimination 3, before rounding off the day with a solid second place in Elimination 4. These results allowed Mortefon to open up a comfortable 5.6-point lead at the top of the leaderboard, giving him full control in the battle for the world title.

Prien celebrates first slalom victory on the World Tour

For Nico Prien, the racing day started with a bit of bad luck: when he was in the lead in Elimination 2, the race had to be cancelled because the last buoy drifted off. "That's a tough pill to swallow," he said afterwards. So instead of celebrating his first victory in the slalom, it was off to the restart. "It wasn't right in the gybes, it's very choppy in the light wind."

After a sixth place in the repechage and the same result in elimination 3, Prien finally achieved the breakthrough he had been longing for. In Elimination 4, he overtook Mortefon in the second gybe and secured his first slalom victory on the World Tour, having already won a foil run in Gran Canaria in 2023. "I'm so stoked, especially after almost winning in the first run today," he said happily. "I had three or four guys in front of me and then jibed on the inside. I wanted to do something different and it paid off straight away!" Nico thus climbed to sixth place in the rankings!

Vrieswijk and Vonk fight for podium places

Like Mortefon, Amado Vrieswijk had to cope with a difficult start to the day. In Elimination 2, he missed the final after a crash at the start when he touched Lohan Jules' mast with his outhaul. Vrieswijk went "over the handlebars" and ended up in twelfth place. However, he showed an impressive reaction and achieved his best results of the event with a second and a third place. "I've got the speed, I can jibe and now I've got it together," he said into the PWA mic. This strong performance catapulted the 29-year-old from fourth to second place in the overall standings.

Jordy Vonk had a day of mixed results, but still managed to improve his position in the overall standings. The Dutchman secured his first win of the event in Elimination 2 and followed it up with a fourth place in Elimination 3, bringing him to within 1.3 points of the lead. In Elimination 4, however, Vonk narrowly missed out on a place in the final after getting stuck after the penultimate jibe, which ultimately resulted in him slipping out of the top 5 of the elimination. He now occupies third place in the overall standings.

Iachino and Rutkowski have to fight

Matteo Iachino started the event with a solid second place, but was unable to continue his usual dominance yesterday. The Italian, who only finished outside the top four once in twelve eliminations on Fuerte, had to settle for two fifth places and a seventh place in the day's three heats. As Mortefon's closest rival in the world championship before this event, Iachino now faces a major challenge, as he is already 8.6 points behind the Frenchman. Nevertheless, he remains firmly in the running for another event podium finish.

Maciek Rutkowski started the day with another third place and briefly took the lead in the overall standings due to the constellation of results. However, this did not last long, as the Pole crashed when entering the first jibe in the final of Elimination 3, which ultimately only meant tenth place. He finished the day in sixth place and dropped from third to fifth place in the overall standings, level on points with Iachino in fourth place.

Disappointment for Martini and surprise from Jules

Bruno Martini actually had an excellent day with a second and a third place - until it came to elimination 4. Leading the first semi-final, Martini crashed in the first gybe and missed out on the final for the first time in Tenerife. Although he is currently taking this result as a stringer, he will mourn the missed opportunities, as a similar result would have put him firmly in the running for the podium. Martini still has a chance of a podium finish, but cannot afford any more slip-ups.

Lohan Jules caused a positive surprise and climbed from 13th to 10th place in the overall standings. Even more would have been possible for the 23-year-old Frenchman if he hadn't gone to the wrong buoy while leading in the first semi-final of Elimination 4. The top ten is completed by Taty Frans in 8th place and Ingmar Daldorf in 9th place. The forecast for Tuesday is for slightly lighter wind conditions - 17-19 knots in the afternoon compared to 18-21 knots the day before - but there is still a good chance of further competition.