World Cup Sylt: Michele Becker wins his first elimination, Johan Søe leads

"It's a childhood dream to win a race here on Sylt in front of all the spectators, it's incredible," said Michele Becker in tears after his first victory on the PWA tour. The man from Kiel won the first elimination at the schauinsland-reisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt by got2be, adding to his impressive results in his debut season so far.

In the final, Becker rode away from the front right from the start - he had actually already realised that he could bring the thing home, he said afterwards. With a lead of around 20 metres over his rival Matteo Iachino, he was able to maintain a solid lead over the entire course. "At times I wasn't even sure whether this was really a World Cup final," said Becker, overwhelmed. At the end of the day, he is now in seventh place after finishing tenth and 14th in the other runs.

With conditions close to the wind limit, the riders were extremely challenged to keep the foil flying. There was also a lot of algae in the water, which also slowed them down. The start in particular was crucial, resulting in many early starts. The start was not possible until around midday, with the finish line right on the beach so that all spectators could follow the races perfectly. During the afternoon, the wind continued to pick up, but was difficult to judge with the rain passing through. Before the third round, the course had to be altered due to a wind shift and the wind was now blowing flat onshore.

Prien returns from injury, Rutkowski saves his day

There was a small scare right at the start of the race day: Nico Prien came ashore injured after a fall in the first gybe and had to receive medical treatment. Another rider's foil had hit him on the shin. "Change board, change leg, carry on," said Nico nonchalantly. In the second elimination he was able to return and won his first heat, and in the third elimination he won the small final. At the end of the day, the Schönberger finished in 16th place.

Maciek Rutkowski, who came to Sylt as the reigning world champion and leader of the rankings, had a bad day. A good result here could mean a preliminary world championship decision. Initially, everything went according to plan and the Pole drove inconspicuously into the final. But right at the first gybe, he flattened out in the North Sea, with no more than eighth place possible. He wanted to make up for this in the second elimination, but after a false start he only managed another eighth place on the scoresheet. Rutkowski therefore went into the third elimination with a lot of pressure and then found his rhythm. The day ended on a conciliatory note with a win, but he still has to hope for at least seven eliminations and two strings and must not allow himself any more slip-ups.

Matteo Iachino, runner-up in the first round and winner of the second elimination, could have been the winner of the day. But nothing went right for the Italian in the third round. Bad luck after the first jibe in the semi-final, then another crash in the B-final - third place in the interim ranking.

Johan Søe and Mateus Isaac dominate thanks to consistency

After the first day, 19-year-old Dane Johan Søe is in the lead. Last year, he won his first elimination on Sylt, and now he was always in the leading group with fourth, fifth and third places. Behind him was Mateus Isaac from Brazil, who was also very strong with two second places and a tenth place.

Sebastian Kördel also had a day of highs and lows. The German Olympic hopeful in the iQFoil had been looking forward to "finally being able to ride fast material again". The speed on the straights was also good, it was only the jibes that were lacking. Kördel went down at the buoy several times in promising positions, but "I'm here to have fun", as he said with a laugh. In the second elimination, he even drove to the wrong buoy and dropped from first to last place in his heat.

It looks like there will be conditions for more slalom eliminations tomorrow, and maybe even the freestylers could have a go. Stay tuned!

Stand World Cup Sylt Slalom Men

1. Johan Søe
2. Mateus Isaac
3. Matteo Iachino
4. Maciek Rutkowski
5. Nicolas Goyard
6. Bruno Martini
7. Michele Becker
8. Amado Vrieswijk
9. Pierre Mortefon
10. Daniele Benedetti

Also interesting:

• Johan Søe - How the Dane puts the fear of God into the World Cup elite
• The best crashes at the World Cup Sylt