After the brilliant start in the Freestyle discipline patience was required the following day at the Wingfoil World Cup Leucate as part of the Mondial Du Vent event. It was not until late afternoon that a slalom-suitable breeze fanned out over the beach to the sea. A total of 16 women and 45 men will be competing against each other in the FreeFly Slalom in Leucate. In the women's event, the results are determined in a full fleet format, which means that all athletes take to the course together and the placings are determined directly. There was a tough fight between Nia Suardiaz and Paula Novotna right at the first turning point - Suardiaz was able to hold her own here, however, and did not relinquish the lead until the finish line. Bowien Van Der Linden also rode strongly, obviously carrying the momentum from her victory in the freestyle and finishing third ahead of local hero Orane Ceris.
In the men's race, it takes much longer to achieve a result due to the large field of 45 riders. The riders start the race divided into four heats, with the top six in each heat progressing to the next round. In the first round, all the top favourites were able to do their homework without any problems and march through to the final. However, the conditions there were so borderline that the result was cancelled after a protest and a repeat of the final heat was scheduled for the following day.
Ghio with the dream start, Suardiaz still in the driving seat
On day 3, the wind also got going late - but just in time for the final, which had been cancelled the day before, to finally take place. The best start was made by the young Frenchman Mathis Ghio, closely followed by Francesco Cappuzzo from Italy and Defi Wing winner Bastien Escofet . Ghio withstood the pressure, reeled off his jibes cleanly and also had the necessary top speed to cross the finish line in first place. At the back, Titouan Galea rolled up the field from behind after a slow start and was able to move up to second place, ahead of Escofet and Cappuzzo.
Further races were not possible for the men due to the wind situation. It was a different story for the women, however - Suardiaz continued her winning run.
Here's the highlight clip of the first races:
