Preseason Buildup
Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) has consistently been involved in the race for the Women’s PWA Slalom World Tour title over the last few years - including 2016 where she was pipped to the world crown by the tightest of margins by Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), who will not be competing in Asia.
Heading into the final event of 2017, Erdil ooked on course to achieve a 4th consecutive overall top 3 finish, but an untimely foot injury jeopardised her chances and despite trying to race through the pain barrier she just lost out to Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails).
Now back to full fitness the 29-year-old is looking to fighting it out on the race course again as she looks to win her maiden world title…
Lena Erdil, who finished 4th overall in 2017: “I feel super excited to get back onto the battlefield. During last years last event in New Caledonia I suffered a very disappointing foot injury so I missed out on a lot of fun racing in probably my favourite racing location!! So that was quite hard for me as despite my injury I continued to race during the event but wasn't able to push, kind of like a bird trying to fly with broken wings… haha it was very frustrating!
But now I feel super ready and I am looking forward to racing at full strength again. Of course its sad news that Sarah-Quita [Offringa] will not race with us this year in Asia, she is such a strong competitor, who will always put up a fierce battle until the end that we will miss her in the race! But yeah I am super excited to get back racing, the women's fleet is looking very strong, many girls put in a lot of training hours over the winter so I am sure it will be exciting racing!
I also had a chance to do some practice races with Delphine [Cousin Questel] and Marion [Mortefon] during our Lanzarote training camp and we had some great battles there, but for sure when it's the PWA and a world title on the line everything changes! So yeah, I can't wait to start the races, lets hope for great conditions in Asia this year… I just had a peak at the forecast and it looks pretty good for now!”
You can track Lena Erdil’s progress during both the Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup - 10th-15th May - and the Ulsan PWA World Cup - 19th-24th May - by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com.