All photos by © Carter / PWAworldtour.com

Antoine Albeau FRA-192 reports:

For the first time Marignane in the South of France hosts a PWA Slalom event. It was a super important event as it is the first tour stop, so, we will see who is in form and good shape for the season.

All in all, it was a tough week because it took one week to finish just one Slalom elimination! My quarter and semi final were hard: It took many times to complete these runs because they were cancelled millions of times due to the gusty wind. I performed great and was fast on all my heats. With my NP 8.6 and my JP 85 I was always flying.

Then came the final: 2 riders got disqualify due to a premature start. I was pushing my luck and one time I think it was really close.4 minutes before the start, the wind pick up quite strongly. I saw Morfeton and Kordel jumping on the medium board and 7.7 but I stayed on 8.6. My caddy was right there but I didn’t dare to change down to my Slalom 71 and 7.8 because wind was super gusty and expected it to drop again.

Super windy on the start, I was flying down the course. My GPS showed my top speed of 36 knots (66,66 km/h) on the first reach! Gybing was super hard as I was more than overpower and Mortefon was able to pass me on the inside at the second buoy. As I was too overpowered and struggling, so, I didn’t take the risk trying to overtake him in return.It was easy not to qualify for the final which happened to many other top riders. Playing safe, I finished 2nd which it is a great result because overall the event was super difficult.

BonjoursA2

Most of the time Antoine leads at the buoy

JP rankings in Marignane

#2 – Antoine Albeau FRA-192

#9 – Mateus Isaac BRA-767

#15- Amado Vrieswijk NB-20

#16 – Sebastian Kornum DEN-24

Mateus chasing Antoine finishes with a top result – 9th !

Amado is followed by Sebastian – both make it to the losers final