After the waveriders had provided breathtaking action on the first weekend ( HERE here are the men's highlights from day 1, HERE the summary of the women's waveriding), the slalom discipline took centre stage on day 3. The participants were probably pleased that the storm of the previous days had subsided somewhat and it was almost light winds by Pozo standards - that meant 25 to 30 knots of basic wind. Given the conditions, the riders were faced with the question: fin or foil? While almost all other World Cup events are started with foils almost without exception, the conditions in Pozo gave the fin a small comeback - beating around the course with a foil in 30 knots and 1.5 metres of swell is not everyone's cup of tea. And so around half of the men's starters started the race with a fin, and almost the entire women's field.
Duel of the systems
Due to the smaller number of participants, the women's field starts as a "full fleet", meaning that all starters start the race together, making each race a final. Here, too, there was a duel of systems today. While top riders such as Sarah-Quita Offringa and Marion Mortefon used fins, the Spaniard Blanca Alabau was the only one to use foil throughout. Why? Because she can do it - after all, she holds the world speed record on the foil. On the course, the riders with fins were able to achieve a slightly higher top speed on the straights, but Alabau caught up massively in the gybes and could even afford to ride significantly wider radii. So while her rivals fought over the tightest line at the jibes, she simply skied past the pack with a wide radius downwind. After five eliminations, Alabau is currently just ahead of Sarah-Quita Offringa and France's Justine Lemeteyer and Marion Mortefon.
Strong Germans at the World Cup Pozo
The first day of the men's slalom also turned into a battle of the systems. As the riders had to register a limited amount of equipment in advance, nobody can start perfectly equipped for all conditions. In view of the usually extremely strong winds, some of the top riders had only registered "normal" slalom equipment and opted not to use foil material. At the beginning of the day, it looked as if this strategy might work - the Finn pilots were absolutely within striking distance and fully powered up with racing sails of 5.8 to 6.2 square metres. However, as the wind dropped slightly over the course of the day, the advantages of the foils became more and more apparent. On the straights, the Finn riders usually kept up well, but in the acceleration phase after the jibe, the foils pulled away mercilessly.
The Croatian Enrico Marotti was in absolute top form, winning two out of three finals and thus taking the lead. Anyone who has ever foiled in chest-high swell can perhaps imagine how challenging it must be to race across the course at almost 65 km/h with a 5 square metre foil sail motorised. But the German starters also had their equipment well under control: Michele Becker, Newly crowned IFCA European Champion After 16th place in the first round, he got into better and better shape and even entered the top 10 with tenth place in Elimination 2 and fourth place in Elimination 3. Nico Prien's performance was also absolutely impressive, as he didn't make a mistake in any of the three eliminations, took part in all three finals and would currently be on the podium with two fifth and one third place - behind Marotti and the reigning world champion Maciek Rutkowski.
The next few days also promise plenty of action. In all likelihood, there will be another slalom tomorrow before the second round of wave riding at the weekend.
We will keep you up to date with all the latest news from the World Cup Pozo. Stay tuned!
