On the penultimate day of the World Cup, Pozo was once again in great form: 35 knots of wind and solid set waves provided a worthy setting for the decisive heats of the women's double elimination. As the first rounds of the double had already been completed a few days ago, it was down to the wire today - only the top 6 were still in the running. Justyna Sniady's race to catch up came to an end in a direct duel against Spain's Maria Morales Navarro, albeit by a wafer-thin margin: in the end, the two were separated by just 0.04 points - Sniady finished the event in sixth place. In the following heat, Morales Navarro was now allowed to compete with the previously fourth-placed rider Alexia Kiefer-Quintana. This time it was clearer, Kiefer-Quintana left nothing to be desired with a solid backloop, frontloop and solid wave scores.
The battle for the podium
After Kiefer-Quintana had successfully defended her fourth place from the first round, the young Spaniard now set about attacking the podium. In the teenagers' duel against the 15-year-old Belgian Sol Degrieck, Kiefer-Quintana's solid backloops once again made the difference. Degriek tried to counter this with a pushloop and forward, but in the end Degrieck had to settle for fourth place in the final standings.
The fact that Kiefer-Quintana didn't move up any further was partly due to the fact that she simply couldn't find a good ramp in the duel for second place against Sarah-Quita Offringa. The Spaniard searched for minutes for a backloop wave, but it just wouldn't come. Conversely, Offringa attracted set waves like a magnet - after just one minute she already had a pushloop, frontloop, backloop and a solid wave ride and a total of over 19 points on the scoresheet.
After Offringa had successfully defended her second place, it came down to a duel for victory against the winner of the preliminary round, Daida Moreno. The two showed a run at the highest level. Offringa reeled off her heat flawlessly, including a pushloop and high backloop, and once again found the rare steep sections of the waves when riding off. With almost 24 points on the judges' score sheet, she set an absolute high score and forced the super final.
Daida Moreno in particular initially struggled to find good waves in this heat. Sarah-Quita Offringa quickly pulled away, but was a long way off her score from the previous heat. Five minutes before the end, Moreno changed boards again and started a race to catch up: with one minute to go, she managed a high stalled forward and was suddenly back within striking distance. On the last wave of the heat, a backside air followed by a frontside air took her past Sarah-Quita Offringa, with 0.4 points separating the two in the end - a real lucky punch and her 21st victory at the World Cup Pozo.
