Directly after the PWA World Cup in Japan, Race Director Emilio Galindo started the Junior World Cup in Alacati, Turkey. For the first time, foil slalom was also on the programme for the juniors. This meant five days of non-stop action on the water with exciting races. However, unlike (still) in the big World Cup, Finns and foils started in separate classifications - just as the IFCA announced for the next season has.
Finn slalom
In the U21 classification, Armand Genevois, John Soukos and Max Baaijen fought a close race right from the start and showed that they also had a chance of staying in contention in the PWA World Cup. After 15 close races, Genevois was ahead of Soukos by less than three points. In the U21 women's event, 16-year-old Turkish rider Elif Ercan impressed with her consistency. The multiple junior world champion took ten victories and won ahead of Anna Biaglioni from Italy, while Asya Vaircioglu narrowly beat Sinem Alper in the race for third place.
Mert Kacan, Ozan Ozay, Ibrahim Ali Donmez and Tan Tandogan fought a close race in the U17 classification. Kacan impressed with safe jibes and a lot of control, especially in strong winds, while Ozan Ozay steadily caught up after a weaker start and ended up 0.6 points ahead of Ibrahim Ali in second place. Elic Ercan also dominated her age group in the girls' event, winning ahead of Sinem Alper and Zeynep Hacudi.
The U15 boys' competition was also exciting: Burak Orhan took an early lead, but was overtaken by Kaan Erdogan towards the end of the contest and pushed back into second place. Cagla Anadol won the girls' competition ahead of Zeynep Tecmen and Damla Kurtdemir.
The U13 boys also had to contend with up to 30 knots. Yaman Ozkayagan impressed here with plenty of speed, control and consistency and won ahead of Ali Demirci and Daghan Dalan.
Foil
As the wind picked up towards the middle of the contest, the foil fleets also remained in full competition mode and raced one after the other. In the U21 class, the same names were at the top as in the Finn classification. Here too, Armand Genevois, John Soukos and Max Baaijen fought a close race in the top 3, with Genevois also coming out on top in the end. Benedikt Emser, the only starter from Germany, finished fifth.
In the U17 classification, Benedikt Emser even made it onto the podium in second place. Ibrahim Ali won despite a hairline fracture in his foot, with Tan Tandogan coming third. Burak Orhan won the U15 foilers with ten victories in twelve races.
The women only competed in the U21 category, where Elif Ercan once again won ahead of Anna Biagiolini and Damla Kurtdemir
Kid's Cup
The eight-year-olds competed in the Sompo Kid's Cup as an unofficial category. With gusts of up to 30 knots, the starters had a lot of fun on the water, with Irem Metin coming out on top ahead of Selin Diaz, Melis Kocabay and Sofia Senturk.
Tobias Frauen
Editor
