Costa Brava PWA World Cup

A look ahead to the men’s second slalom battle of the season in Costa Brava

The elite of the male slalom world are readying themselves for battle round two after their recent exerts in Ulsan, South Korea. There is just two weeks to go before the next instalment of warp speed slalom, so now we take a quick look ahead for what lies in store before the green flag goes up again on the 9th June in Costa Brava, Spain.

A bit about Costa Brava

The picturesque town of Sant Pere Pescador is located 150km to the north east of Barcelona. It is encompassed by twelve enchanting kilometres of stunning white sand beaches, and the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Combine this with the steady thermal winds, which grace the Gulf-de-Roses throughout the summer months and you have the perfect recipe for a slalom sailors paradise. Those idyllic thermal winds can soon be replaced by the roaring Tramontana wind, which ferociously whistles down the Pyrenees Mountain range, with enough power to test the mettle of any of the world’s best sailors.

The Prestigious Top Three

After the opening event of the year reigning world champion - Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) - leads the way ahead of fellow countryman - Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) - and Cabo Verde’s Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails).

Albeau demonstrated again in South Korea that he is the man that everyone else needs to beat as he claimed another event victory. The multiple time world champion may not have won an elimination in Ulsan, but he showed incredible consistency, which is vital in todays cut-throat slalom. Albeau also has a great recent record in Costa Brava with three victories and two podium finishes in the past five years. 

After a fine 2014 Mortefon picked up from where he left off as he continues to go from strength-to-strength, whilst emerging as a genuine title contender after his third place overall last year. The twenty-five year old made a flying start to the new campaign by claiming the opening bullet in Korea, before finishing just behind Albeau come the end of the event. Expect to see Mortefon continue to thrive and produce another top performance in Costa Brava.

Josh Angulo claimed his first podium finish since 2011, which was also incidentally in South Korea, and has already spoken about how his opening result of the year has given him even more motivation and drive for the remainder of this year’s calendar. Angulo has been prominently placed in many events over the past few years, winning numerous eliminations, but things haven’t worked out quite how he may have wanted at the end of an event up to now. With a few breaks of luck in his favour - plus an added dose of motivation - Angulo could very well be plying for a place in the top three or above in Costa Brava.

The Ulsan PWA World Cup certainly threw up a few surprises with the likes of vice-world champion Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne, Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) and Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) all missing out on a place in the top sixteen. As well as the aforementioned trio there will be plenty of other sailors desperate to make amends in Costa Brava, however, we’ll take a full look at that in the event preview.

Don’t miss any of the adrenaline fuelled slalom in Costa Brava by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com from the 9th-14th June. Who do you fancy for the title in Spain?