The penultimate day of the PWA World Cup in Tenerife saw the completion of the men's and women's double elimination. El Cabezo provided the competitors with a solid all-round test with a wide variety of conditions over the last six days. Despite some excellent comebacks, ultimately no one could stop the single elimination champions - Lina Erpenstein and Marc Paré - from taking the top spots on Tenerife's prestigious event podium.
Lina Erpenstein defends her first place more than solidly
Lina Erpenstein has long been on the cusp of becoming one of the best wave windsurfers in the world, but before this season she didn't really have the results in the bag to back it up. However, that all changed in April this year when she won her first event on the World Tour in Chile and now, just a few months later, she has extended her lead with a magnificent victory here in Tenerife. The German had to defend her win from the single elimination against none other than Iballa Moreno, but she seemed to savour the moment as she hit several big rail turns right at the start of the heat to take control of the final.
Her coach Dieter van der Eyken stood on the shore and signalled whether she should work on her wave score or her jump. When he signalled a jump, Lina took off again at the end of the heat and found the perfect backloop ramp to more than solidly defend her first place and win the World Cup in Tenerife.
Iballa Moreno celebrated a great comeback with a combination of radical one-footed forward loops and her trademark effortless wave riding after finishing fourth in the single elimination. She first halted Pauline Katz's comeback in the double, then defeated reigning world champion Sarah-Quita Offringa before also beating Alexia Kiefer Quintana to secure a top two finish in her first event of the season.
Well-deserved first event win for Marc Paré
Marc Paré admitted he was pretty nervous as he waited through the entire double elimination to the final. However, the way the 26-year-old then started the final against his good friend Victor Fernandez cast doubt on whether he was nervous at all, as he turned in an almost perfect double forward - 7.78 points - with a 5.3 sail and 99 litre board on the very first shot. He immediately set the tone. As mentioned earlier, Paré is only just getting back to full fitness after his nasty foot injury earlier in the year, but you wouldn't know it given his overall level on the water, as he also scored two solid scores on the wave to take the highest heat score of the day - 18.41 points - giving him a fully deserved first win on the World Tour, which must feel all the more special given his turbulent year.
Victor Fernandez managed to work his way up one place in the double elimination after beating Julian Salmonn in an incredibly close heat. In fact, it was so close that only 0.08 points separated the two riders in the final seconds of the heat, leaving Salmonn in the lead. But Fernandez struck with a 5.38-point wave at the final whistle of the heat, deciding the "tie" in his favour and moving on to the final. The former three-time world champion was then unable to land a killer blow against Paré, but he remains in the running for a possible fourth world title.
Julian Salmonn couldn't quite maintain his second place from the single, but he added to his first podium finish from Pozo (second place) with another at his home event. The German wasn't quite able to show the huge wave rides, including air takas, that he showed in the first round - perhaps due to the higher tide, the wave in El Cabezo didn't quite offer the same projection - but third place is still a solid result for the 26-year-old.
Of the best-placed riders in the overall World Tour standings, Marino Gil benefited the most from the double elimination here on Tenerife. The Spaniard climbed from ninth to fourth place after winning six heats in a row.
As solid results have now been achieved in all categories and the forecast for today, the last day of the event, looks anything but good, there will be no further competitions at the PWA World Cup in Tenerife this year. The official awards ceremony will take place at 12.30pm.
Results PWA World Cup Tenerife 2024
Men
1. Marc Paré
2. Victor Fernandez
3. Julian Salmonn
4th Marino Gil
5. Liam Dunkerbeck
6. Ricardo Campello
7. Takuma Sugi
8. Tobias Bjørnaa
9th Antoine Albert
9th Dieter Van der Eyken
Women
1. Lina Erpenstein
2. Iballa Moreno
3. Alexia Kiefer Quintana
4th Sarah-Quita Offringa
5th Pauline Katz
6th Maria Morales
U21 boys
1. Liam Dunkerbeck
2. Hayata Ishii
3. Tobias Bjørnaa
4th Anton Richter
5th Lennart Neubauer
5th Gregory Stathopoulos
U18 girls
1st Sol Degrieck (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)
2nd Lizzlote Schilling (ESP | Goya Windsurfing / Severne Sails)
3rd Annagiulia Piccaglia (ESP | Goya Windsurfing)
4th Trine Gobisch (GER | Duotone Windsurfing)
U18 boys
1. Carlos Kiefer Quintana
2. Ryu Noguchi
3. Leon Maethner
4th Javier Escribano