PWA World Cup Tenerife 2025: Köster excels despite weakening wind - Behrens strong in the waves

The sixth day of the Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam began with mixed prospects. Although the weather forecast did not look promising, some locals remained optimistic - and were proved right. The race organisers decided to continue the single eliminations that had started yesterday in the waves. The morning was initially frustrating with lots of ups and downs in the wind, which led to numerous interruptions. However, patience was rewarded: El Cabezo later presented itself with the best waves of the entire competition, which meant that the men's event progressed to the top 8 and the women's event to the top 16. In 16-minute-long four-man heats, the best two progressed to the next round, with the best jump and the best two waves being counted.

Köster in top form

Despite little wind, Philip Köster was in top form and left no doubt about his ambitions. The five-time world champion initially set the highest score of the day in the second round, only to improve once again in the round of 16 with 19.75 points - the highest score of the entire day. Köster shone in the air with his double forwards and made the wave riding seem effortless with flowing transitions from one move to the next. "The heat was very good, the wind picked up a bit and I was very pumped with the 5.5," he reported afterwards. "I got my jump quickly and was then able to concentrate on the waves, which of course helps because the heats are very long." In addition to Köster, Victor Fernandez also qualified for the next round from the first quarter-final. The Spaniard clearly felt comfortable in El Cabezo, but had to overcome a late scare when his Alessio Stillrich landed a one-handed, one-footed backloop. In the end, it was still just enough for Fernandez - with a lead of just over a quarter of a point, he progressed to the semi-finals.

Defending champion Marc Paré underlined his ambitions with the second-highest score of the day. In the second quarter-final (Heat 18), the Spaniard landed a double forward and showed aggressive wave riding in the vertical, which earned him 18.9 points. "The wind picked up, but I still stayed on 5.6 to be on the safe side." Paré now faces a high-calibre semi-final against Köster, Marcilio Browne and Miguel Chapuis. Antoine Martin secured second place in the semi-finals after landing arguably the biggest backloop of the day in the final minutes of the heat. In doing so, he knocked Dieter van der Eyken out of his home event, even though the latter had ridden strongly throughout the day and achieved the fourth-highest score of the entire competition in the round of 16.

Campello searches in vain for ramps

Liam Dunkerbeck got off to a lightning start in Heat 19. The 21-year-old quickly landed a near-perfect double forward, scoring 7.82 points. This gave him time to concentrate on surfing for the rest of the heat, and Dunki junior used his early advantage to secure a place in the semi-finals with aplomb. "I decided at the last moment to take the 5.0 instead of the 5.3 after all," he said afterwards. "That was perfect!" Behind Dunkerbeck, an incredibly close duel broke out between Miguel Chapuis, Moritz Mauch and Ricardo Campello, with only 1.31 points separating the second and fourth-placed riders at the end of the heat.

Campello spent most of the heat unsuccessfully searching for a ramp for a double forward and felt hampered several times when he was ready to jump. In hindsight, he probably regrets not having focussed more on the waves, as he was ultimately only able to count a score of 3.38 points as a backup. Mauch, on the other hand, will be a little disappointed that he was unable to really utilise a wave in the quarter-finals. The 29-year-old had already achieved the highest individual wave score (7 points) for the second day in a row, but was unable to repeat this performance in Heat 19.

Close decisions in many heats

In the last heat of the day (heat 20), Marino Gil quickly landed the highest scoring jump of the entire competition - 8 points for a perfect double forward. Similar to Dunkerbeck, this allowed him to concentrate on the waves for the rest of the heat. The last quarter-final also developed into a close battle for second place and thus progression. In the end, reigning world champion Marcilio Browne prevailed over Julian Salmonn, who had finished third here in 2024, after the Brazilian combined an extremely stylish bottom turn with a taka. Salmonn had previously won his heat ahead of Liam Dunkerbeck and was delighted with the conditions: "I like the low water level, it makes it easier to read in small waves!"

Elsewhere, Jules Denel was a little unlucky to have to compete against Browne, Campello and Jochen Stolz in Heat 16. The Frenchman would have made it into the top 16 in all the other heats of the last 16. Denel outperformed both Browne and Campello in wave riding, but both landed double forwards, which ultimately tipped the scales. Alessio Stillrich only progressed in his quarter-final against Takuma Sugi after the final signal, as the Japanese rider had obstructed him on a wave and was deducted points as a result.

Strong performances by the women

In the first women's heat (Heat 9), Line Wittrup Bang and Blanca Alabau dominated the action and deservedly booked their places in the quarter-finals. Heat 9 had to be restarted several times, and on each attempt the Dane and the Spaniard were in the top two places, so it was only fair that they eventually progressed as they were clearly in a class of their own.

However, Maria Behrens was the outstanding rider in the first round of the women's competition. The 23-year-old achieved two of the three best wave scores and confidently moved into the top 16. Behrens showed excellent wave selection and utilised this to the maximum, collecting scores of 7.37 and 6.63 points. "It was so much fun! Some really big sets came in at the beginning of my heat and I grabbed one of the biggest waves," she reported afterwards. Milanka Linde secured the other qualification spot from the all-German Heat 10 against Maike Lang and Helena Derya Lale.

The other two heats in the last 32 proved to be relatively low-scoring in comparison. Sybille Bode and Maria Schalin progressed from Heat 11, while 19-year-old Lisa Wermeister won Heat 12 ahead of Cori McFarlane. McFarlane was level on points with Lizzlotte Andrew Schilling, but had the higher individual wave score and also progressed to the quarter-finals.

Both the men's and women's single eliminations are expected to be finalised on Thursday as the forecast has improved for tomorrow. Slightly bigger waves and similar wind conditions to today are expected - stay tuned!

The highlights of the day in the video