Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Super Grand Slam

Event Summary: 10 Days of Almost Non-stop Action Sees 3 New World Champions Crowned

The 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA World Cup certainly delivered with action on almost every single day across 4 disciplines - foil, wave, freestyle and slalom - making it one of the most successful events in Sylt for many seasons. Over the course of the 10 days there was plenty of world class action and at the end of the event 3 new world champions were crowned.

Wave

Women’s

Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) came into the final wave event of the year leading the world tour and looking to defend her world title for the 4th year in a row and that’s exactly what she managed to do as she won the single elimination ahead of Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), which left her in a powerful position as the only way she could then be denied would’ve been if Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) had have been able to come back from 3rd place and win the event. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to complete the women’s double elimination meaning that on the final Sunday at 12pm it was official that Iballa was the 2017 Women’s PWA Wave World Champion with all the sailors released.

Iballa Moreno secured her 4th world title row said: ”Im super happy to win another year. 4 years in a row… it's incredible and with the level of the girls increasing every season it makes it even harder. Congrats to Daida also for becoming second overall despite her injury in Tenerife! Adding already a total of 27 World titles to our history! Thanks to our sponsors ANFI, Starboard, Severne Sails, Volkswagen Canarias, and Maui Ultra fins for believing and supporting us during our career! Next year more. Sylt was a successful event and for 20 years we have been coming here and this has been the windiest event ever! Completing all disciplines and competing almost everyday - it has been amazing to see.”

Daida may feel slightly unfortunate after injuring herself in the Tenerife, but she walks away from 2017 as the vice-world champion again and will undoubtedly be in the mix again next season, while the Moreno twins continue to dominate the women’s world tour. Their latest victory means they have now won an incredible 27 world titles between them.

Sarah-Quita Offringa recovered from a disappointing start to the season in Pozo, which saw her finish in 5th place, by bouncing back with consecutive 2nd places, which sees the 26-year-old retain her place on the overall podium.

Elsewhere, Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) continues to catch the eye with her aggressive approach to waveriding and no-fear jumping making her look an extremely exciting and promising prospect for the coming seasons. The German is still only 20 and looks she will be a genuine podium contender from now on. Erpenstein finishes the season with her best result yet - 4th - improving two places from 2016.

Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic) also enjoyed her best ever season on the world tour and breaks into the top 5 for the first time after consistently being able to transfer her level from free sailing into the competition arena and she receives her just rewards.

Nicole Bandini (Fanatic / NorthSails) is crowned the Women’s Youth PWA Wave World Champion for the second season in a row after improving on last years ranking by 4 places as the young Italian finishes 7th for 2017.

Men’s

Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails /Shamal Sunglasses) did everything in his power to defend his world title and deny Philip Köster’s (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) by winning the final wave event of the year, but unfortunately for the Spaniard it was quite enough as Köster claimed 3rd place in Sylt to win his 4th world title - much to his and the home crowds delight. Köster has performed better than ever this season and continues to push the boundaries of wave sailing.

Fernandez finishes level on points with Köster, but misses out on count back and he’ll now have to wait till next season to try and win his world title back. Fernandez deservedly won the event with equally impressive performances on both port and starboard tack - further enhancing his reputation as one of the most complete wave sailors in the world. 

Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) successfully defends his place on the prestigious overall podium after another fine season, which has seen the Brazilian improve his result event on event this year - 5th, 4th and 2nd in Sylt.

Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) came into the final event of the season ranked 7th, but the Spaniard climbs 3 places to 4th after another excellent display in Sylt. Mussolini faced Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) in Heat 32 in the battle for 4th and 5th in the world and was able to come out on top.

Lewis won’t be too disappointed with that loss to Mussolini though as he still finishes the season with his best ever result on the world tour - 5th - after an extremely impressive and consistent year which saw him finish 7th, 5th and 5th. The Brit has shown glimpses of brilliance in the past, but found a way to link it all together this year to scale new heights.

The top 10 is completed by former world champion Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) - 6th - Australia’s Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses) - 7th - Ricardo Campello (Point-7 / Aeron) - who landed a couple of 10 point pushloop forwards before being stopped by Lewis - 8th - Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails), who produced a brilliant comeback from the first round the double to finish 9th here and 9th overall and finally Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal Sunglasses).

Elsewhere Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails) finished the season with his best result yet - joint 7th - to finish 12th overall - one place behind Marc Paré (SImmer / Simmer Sails), who produced another scintillating comeback in the double elimination to earn back-to-back top 10 finishes for the first time and the 19-year-old looks a serious threat going forwards.

Freestyle

Gollito Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails) showed himself as the ultimate competitor again over the last 10 days to win an incredible 8th PWA Freestyle World Title after finishing the season unbeaten as he continues to prove why he is the undisputed king of Freestyle - sailing with his usual exquisite style, consistency and killer instinct to see of the rest of his competitors. 

Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) will have been wanting to exact revenge against Gollito after the Venezuelan denied him a first world title on the final day of last year, but he’ll have to wait another year now. The Bonairean produced an outstanding starboard tack display in the final against Gollito - consisting of a stalled forward, air kabikuchi and a signature double air culo, but crucially he was missing a move on port tack, which cost him dearly. The 21-year-old would’ve only need to land the most basic of freestyle manoeuvres but just couldn’t get planing the dying seconds of the final. If he had won he still would’ve had to defeat Gollito on a further 2 occasions to win his first world title. So, the wait goes on for Vrieswijk, but it does still seem like a matter of time until he gets his hands on a world crown.

2017 has been a breakthrough year for Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360), who has sailed with more maturity and consistency this season. Testa has caught the eye since making his debut in 2012, but seems to finally realising his potential with a series of superb performances, which sees the highly talented Italian not only break into the overall top 10 for the first time, but also complete the overall podium after finishing on the podium at a world tour event for the first time in Sylt. 

Yentel Caers (JP / Point-7) bounced back from a surprise early 3rd round exit in the single elimination to finish 6th for the event, which sees him complete 2017 in 4th place. 

Over the last few season the French have been powerhouses in the world of windsurfing and they continue that trend again as Frenchman occupy 4 of the top 10 place in the world. Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde) records his best result ever to be ranked 5th in the world ahead of fellow countrymen Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins), Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing) - who also breaks into the overall top 10 for the first time in his career after finishing 5th here - and Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails) - who finish 5th-8th in the overalls.

Switzerland’s Balz Müller (Patrik / Severne) finishes the season in joint 8th with Ruenes after finishing 7th in Sylt, while the one and only Tonky Frans (RRD / RRD Sails) completes the top 10. Frans almost defeated Amado Vrieswijk in the 3rd round of the single elimination with a world class jumping performance, but missed out by just 0.7 of a point, while teammate Francesco Cappuzzo (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360) produced the comeback of the event as he fought back from the first round of the double to finish joint 7th.

Slalom

This event will live long in the memory of Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails) after the Austrian clinched not only his first ever elimination wins on the world tour, but also his first event victory. On Day 3, Lang was in a league of his own as he claimed two clinical victories and with no further races completed the 31-year-old finishes the event with a perfect scoresheet as Team Fanatic and NorthSails dominated the event with victories in the Men’s Slalom, Men’s Wave and Men’s Freestyle. Lang’s victory here sees him rise to 8th in the overall rankings with one event to go. 

Vincent Langer (Fanatic / NorthSails) may have been entering his first world tour event of the season, but he hit the water flying to secure his place on the podium - 2nd - after two class performances which saw him finish 4th and 2nd in the two races completed.

Meanwhile, Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses) earned his 3rd consecutive podium finish, which sees the Brit gain the upper hand in the fight for the overall podium. The Brit came into the event on equal points with Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins), but with the Frenchman facing a quarterfinal exit in the opening race and no discard Mortefon had to settle for 14th place - which sees him fall one place to 4th in the overalls. 

Title Race

Reigning world champion - Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Sunglasses) - has seen his hopes of defending his world title diminish after a broken mast in the second race saw him eliminated the quarterfinals and with no discard that means the Italian ends the event with his worst result of the season - 16th. The Italian of course just discards the result, but he would have been wanting to reduce Antoine Albeau’s (RRD / NeilPryde) lead heading into the final event of the year in New Caledonia. Instead, Iachino now trails Albeau by 70 points and while you can never say never, it does look increasingly likely that Albeau will win a 24th world crown.

Albeau was extremely unimpressed that Heat 11 of race two wasn’t cancelled after going from first to almost last after rounding the opening buoying the lead, but with no cancellation flat coming that also means Albeau records his worst finish of the season - 10th, but he’s firmly on course for the title still.

Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) records his third top 10 finish in as many events - which keeps man from Saint Maarten in 5th place - just ahead of France’s Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Loft Sails / Chopper Fins), who records his second-best result of the year - 5th, which maintains his 6th place in the overall rankings, while fellow countryman Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) remains 7th after discarding his 18th place here. Up until this point Questel had not finished outside the top 12.

Elsewhere, Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) jumps into overall top 10 after an excellent 4th place here, while Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) completes the overall top 10 with an event to go after finishing 6th. Meanwhile, Enrico Marotti (RRD / NeilPryde) continues to steadily improve as the season goes on with the Croat earning his first top 10 finish at an event, while Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) records his second top 10 finish of the season - 7th - to return to the overall top 16 - 13th.

Foil

In the 3rd foil exhibition the year, Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins) and Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) claimed 1 victory each, but neither would go on to win the foil with the consistency of Julien Quentel and Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) proving to be key in the two races completed. Quentel and Kornum were tied on 5 points after finishing 2nd and 3rd or vice versa, but Quentel wins the event of countback, while Vonk completes the podium after foiling for just a couple of months. Former vice-Olympic Champion Julien Bontemps (JP / NeilPryde) finishes 4th ahead of Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins, but having dominated the opening two events Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) both failed to continue that dominance.

With action almost every single day this has to go down as one of the most successful Sylt World Cups for many seasons - the PWA would once again like to extend their thanks to the sponsors and organisers and we look forward to returning in 2018 for more radical action. Congratulations to all of the newly crowned event and world champions.

Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?

There’s just one more event to go on the 2017 PWA calendar, which will see the creme of the crop of the slalom world heading to the stunning island of New Caledonia for the Noumea Dream Cup - the women’s world title has already been decided with Sarah-Quita Offringa wrapping it up with an event to spare, but the men’s world champion will be crowned with the event running between the 21st-26th November.

To review all of the news from Germany — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Result 2017 Women’s Wave Mercedes-Benz PWA Super Grand Slam

1st Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

4th Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne)

5th Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic) 

 

Overall Ranking 2017 PWA Wave World Tour — Women’s

1st Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

2nd Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)

4th Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne)

5th Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic)

 

Result 2017 Men’s Wave Mercedes-Benz PWA Super Grand Slam 

1st Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Sunglasses)

2nd Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing)

3rd Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

4th Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails)

5th Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX)

6th Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses)

7th Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails)

9th Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde)

9th Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails)

9th Ricardo Campello (Point-7 / Aeron)

9th Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails)

 

Overall Ranking 2017 PWA Wave World Tour — Men’s 

1st Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)

2nd Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Sunglasses)

3rd Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing)

4th Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails)

5th Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX)

6th Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses)

8th Ricardo Campello (Point-7 / Aeron)

9th Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails)

10th Dany Bruch (Starboard / FlightSails / AL360 / Shamal Sunglasses)

 

Result 2017 Men’s Freestyle Mercedes-Benz PWA Super Grand Slam 

1st Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails)

2nd Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne)

3rd Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)

4th Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde) 

5th Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing)

6th Yentel Caers (JP / Point-7)

7th  Francesco Cappuzzo (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)

7th Balz Müller (Patrik / Severne)

9th Mattia Fabrizi (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg)

9th Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins)

9th Youp Schmit (99NoveNove / Avanti)

9th Davy Scheffers (Tabou / GA Sails)

 

Overall Ranking 2017 PWA Freestyle World Tour - Men’s

1st Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails)

2nd Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne)

3rd Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)

4th Yentel Caers (JP / Point-7)

5th Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde)

6th Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins)

7th Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing)

8th Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Balz Müller (Patrik / Severne)

10th Tonky Frans (RRD / RRD Sails) 

 

Result 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Super Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom

1st Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)

2nd Vincent Langer (Fanatic /NorthSails)

3rd Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses)

4th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)

5th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove /LoftSails / Chopper Fins)

6th Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails)

7th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)

9th Enrico Marotti (RRD /NeilPryde)

10th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

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