Title Showdown

October 14, 2016 Created by Chris Yates

Only two sailors left standing in the battle for this year's men's slalom world title

With just one event to go in the 2016 PWA Men’s Slalom World Championship, we thought we’d take a look at the title race implications heading into the final event of the year.

The 2016 season has seen the world’s fastest sailors embark on a journey spanning the globe from Ulsan, South Korea, to Costa Brava, Spain, Sotavento, Fuerteventura, Hvide Sande, Denmark and Sylt, Germany.

Now there’s only one event to go (La Torche, France, which runs from the 25th-29th October) and only two sailors remain standing in this year’s title race… Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails).

To Iachino, this scenario will feel all too familiar as the Italian entered the final event of last year holding the lead as well but seemingly cracked under the pressure in New Caledonia. However, having being faced with this position once already he should be much better equipped to write the record straight and earn his first world title. Iachino also enters France with a commanding lead after his latest victory in Sylt, while Mortefon could only manage 9th.

What does this mean for the title race?

— Iachino is guaranteed a minimum points total of 10,203 points for the season as he currently has a 7th place discard. This means even without sailing Mortefon requires a top 3 finish to deny the Italian as 4th (2001 points) would only bring Mortefon level on 10,203 points — the Frenchman would then miss out on count-back for the second successive season.

— In the event that Mortefon was to :

- win the event - Iachino would need to finish 4th or better to secure the title

- finish 2nd - Iachino would need to finish 5th or better to secure the title

- finish 3rd - Iachino would need to finish 6th or better to secure the title

— All other scenarios would see Iachino crowned the 2016 PWA Men’s Slalom World Champion

On paper, it may look like a foregone conclusion that Iachino will pick up the world title, but as we’ve seen last year anything can happen when under pressure — particularly in an unfamiliar location as two year’s ago no slalom was completed.

Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com between the 20th-30th October to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Wave contest will be run between the 20th-26th October and Slalom 25th-29th October.

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