Today we like to feature our Slalom booster Marco Lang in our “In The Spotlight” series! Marco had never won an elimination before this past season, but that all changed on the 2017 PWA event on Sylt as he claimed two highly impressive victories and finished 1st for the event and 7th for the season! Read hereafter what Marco is up to.

Let’s rewind to the start of 2017 – how are you looking back on the season? It was a super tough and long season, but definitely a year to remember! I will never forget some very special moments. Reviewing the season I need to say that I started it at my worst and ended it at my best! Just a few weeks before the season started I had a quite bad injury in my shoulder and no doctor could tell me if I would be fit enough to compete in Asia. The first PWA event in Korea was ok, I qualified for the winners final but unfortunately we were not able to finish this Single Elimination, so no official result. Only a few weeks later we had the next PWA event in Japan, which was full of disasters! We did only one elimination where I hit some seaweed. I was not able to qualify for the next heat and ended in 41th place. During the following events in Costa Brava, Fuerteventura and Denmark I eventually showed a solid performance, which made me feel confident again. And then Sylt! It was the biggest success in my career and my first victory ever! I made it from place 41 to the top 10 within one season and finished 7th in the PWA Slalom ranking! I definitely will never forget this event in my whole life.

Highs and Lows? Just before the new season took off I injured my shoulder and needed a short break, so that was not a good start. The best moment was definitely winning the biggest and most important event of the year on Sylt – it still feels a bit unreal!

Did you do anything different in terms of training and did it make a difference? I didn´t change anything. For me the training schedule I follow feels right and I can see lots of improvement, so I will keep it that way. The TWS Slalom Training on Tenerife helps me a lot to prepare for the upcoming season!

What is your favourite board in your portfolio you would never toss? I love all kind of sizes of the Falcon range, but the 136 is my absolute favourite as I won the Sylt event on this weapon!

What advice would you give to young groms looking to follow in your footsteps? The most important is to love what you do. Passion is essential but not the only thing, you really need to believe in yourself. Keep on fighting and never stop even if it´s starting to hurt.

Who do you credit as part of your success? Definitely my family. They always keep my back free and support me in any situation. My grandfather was the one who taught me windsurfing – without him I would have never started this fabulous sport and would not be where I am today!

Where do you see your future in the sport/immediate and long term plans? I don´t plan long term. My focus is on my windsurfing career. I do have a lot of goals and I will fight to reach them! Windsurfing is my biggest passion and this will never change, that´s why I would like to work in the Windsurfing Industry after my windsurfing career.

Funniest moment on tour from 2017? Racing against my two team mates Jordy Vonk and Pierre Mortefon in a rental car.

Turns or airs? Turns, I absolutely love that feeling to carve in the snow or to make turns in the water/on the waves.

Home or Hawaii? Sailing at my home spot is always the best for me and gives me new energy and power for the upcoming events and travelling around the world.

Thrusters or Quads? For my weight I definitely prefer Thrusters so I keep planning in light winds and keeping up the speed!

High boom or low boom? I am not the tallest, so I am using the middle boom position in most conditions.

Big winds or big waves? Both are pretty awesome. Autumn is the best period of the year, when the first winter storms are on the way. When the weather report recommends you to stay in the house then it´s time to hit the water!

What do you expect from your winter training and what skills do you want to improve? I am very happy to be back on Tenerife with TWS. I will mainly focus on training in highwind conditions to get more confident in strong wind.

Finally, what are you looking forward to in 2018? The most important thing is to stay healthy and fit for over whole season. And getting better – keep on training!

More about Marco: http://www.fanatic.com/team/marco-lang/