LIVE STREAM DAY 3 – PWA NEW CALEDONIA

the stream will be online every evening around 11.30 pm (CET, Central European Time)

Elimination 1: the French riders dominated in both fleets. We saw upsets in the first round of the men. Antoine Albeau broke a mast just before his heat and tour leader Matteo Iachino went to the wrong side of the finishing line, when crossing the finish in leading position in his first round heat. Some other big names like Ross Williams and Julien Quentel went out in the second round. Pierre Mortefon was fast in all rounds, won the elimination after a tough fight with Pascal Toselli and now sits in first place of the world ranking at the moment. 4 French riders made it in the top 5. But many more eliminations will come. 

Elimination 2: the ladies fleet saw the same 3 ladies on top in elimination 2, Delphine Cousin won, ahead of Sarah-Quita Offringa and Lena Erdil. That’s the ranking after day 2. Sarah-Quita is still in a safe lead overall in the ladies ranking (e.n. she just has to finish in 7th at Noumea to win her second Slalom World title). Delphine and Lena would make it on the podium, if the rankings stay like now.

In the second elimination of the men Gonzalo Costa Hoevel took the hammer down and won his first elimination in 2015. Event leader Pierre Mortefon made it in 2nd and is on world title course as current leader Matteo Iachino went over early in round two. The second big mistake in the second elimination. The Italian actually is ranked 40th. Antoine Albeau, the second main contender for Pierre, finished 3rd in the losers final and actually is ranked 35th. But let’s wait a few more rounds. But looks like Pierre Mortefon is on incredible form. Tristan “Legs” Algret finished round 2 in 3rd place.

Elimination 3: Sarah-Quita Offringa won round 3. She had great board speed racing on 97 and 6,4m. Her main contender Delphine Cousin crashed really hard in the final. Cagla Kubat got second and Marion Mortefon 3rd. Miss Quita jumped on top in the event ranking now. In the men’s competition Antoine Albeau saw a big comeback and won round 3 by leading from the start till the finish. Pierre Mortefon was on his heals during the whole race and kept the event lead with another second place. Micah Buzianis – there are rumours he is participating in his last PWA Slalom – had great speed and finished in third.

Results after 3 eliminations:

Ladies:

1. Sarah-Quita Offringa (4,7 points)
2. Delphine Cousin (10,4 points)
3. Cagla Kubat (12,0 points)
4. Marion Mortefon (15,0 points)
5. Lena Erdil (16,0 points)

Men:

1. Pierre Mortefon (4,7 points)
2. Cyril Moussilmani (15,0 points)
3. Tristan Algret (22,0 points)
4. Taty Frans (23,0 points)
5. Ben van der Steen (24,0 points)
6. Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (26,2 points)
7. Antoine Questel (34,0 points)
8. Cedric Bordes (34,5 points)
9. Alexandre Cousin (34,5 points)
10. Enes Yilmazer (42,5 points)

Delphine Cousine won both eliminations on day 2 (Pic: Carter/PWA)

Pierre Mortefon on title course after day 2 (Pic: Carter/PWA)

General Infos about the event

The PWA Slalom final in Noumea, New Caledonia is on. It’s a tight battle for the title in the men’s category. Italian Matteo Iachino actually leads. Antoine is on his heels and he is on form. He just set a new 500 m world record with an average speed of 53.27 knots, what’s incredible fast. The third title contender is this year’s Defi Wind winner Pierre Mortefon, who dominated the 4th Slalom World Cup of the season in Alacati. Let’s see, who can focus most and win the title.

Most of the top 25 ranked sailor made it to the tropical paradise New Caledonia. It’s probably one of the nicest Slalom locations on tour. The fleet contains of 24 core PWA riders, 26 riders from New Caledonia, real locals  – that’s 41% of the men’s fleet and 13 riders from Oceania, Australia, New Zealand or Japan. In total 63 riders from 18 different countries are participating in the men’s category. One of the most prominent names is Robert Teriitehau, who started a little comeback last year at Noumea. Obviously the 51 year old French man liked it to compete with all the locals and younger PWA riders.

Several big names didn’t make it to the paradise: Steve Allen (7th), Josh Angulo (18th), Andrea Cucchi (20th), Maciek Rutkowski (21st), Arnon Dagan (22nd), Enrico Marotti (26th), Casper Bouman, Jordy Vonk, Andrea Rosati, Finian Maynard, Ethan Westera, Bruno Martini, Andrea Ferin or Ludovic Jossin.

New Caledonia, a real freeride and wave sailing paradise (Pic: Carter/PWA)

In the ladies fleet all well known names travelled to Noumea to compete in their third event of the year. 18 ladies from 6 different countries. The strongest group of competitors is from New Caledonia, too. 5 ladies, what’s 28 % of the complete fleet, are locals. Sarah-Quita Offringa has already won two events and will give it all to win title number 10 in her career. On her heels are Cagla Kubat, Lena Erdil, Delphine Cousine and Fulya Unlu. 

One is for sure, a lot of podium places will be decided in the bay of Noumea during the upcoming 5 days.