Bureau Vallee Dream Cup

Who Needs What To Win In New Caledonia?

With the final event of the 2019 PWA World Tour just over a week away we decided to take a quick look at the world title race to show you who needs what to win the Men’s & Women’s PWA Slalom World titles. The season finale will see the elite of the racing world return to New Caledonia for the first time since 2017? For the 2019 Bureau Vallee Dream Cup - which takes place between the 18th-23rd November.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) is in a dominant position heading into the season finale as a top 3 finish would guarantee her a 4th Slalom World Championship. On paper that would look like somewhat of a formality as the last time Cousin Questel finished outside the top 3 was in 2017.

However, with the revelation that the reigning world champion is currently battling to get back to full fitness after injuring her foot whilst wave sailing means that a top 3 finish in New Caledonia is certainly not a foregone conclusion, so that could still open the door for Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone), who is Cousin Questel’s only threat. In order for Mortefon to have a chance of winning the title Cousin Questel would have to finish 4th or worse and Mortefon would have to win the event. Finishing second would see the two women tied on 30,500 points, but Cousin Questel would win the world title on countback.

Men’s

In the men’s, it looks like it will be a straight fight for the title between current world tour leader - Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins), who is aiming to win his first world title. The two title contenders will enter New Caledonia tied on 30,400 points - with Iachino only ahead of countback, therefore whoever beats who will win the world title if they finish 5th or better.

However, if both Iachino and Mortefon were to finish 6th or worse, then that would open the door for reigning world champion - Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) - to swoop in and snatch a 26th world title, but only if he were to win the event… all three sailors would then finish tied on 40,300 points, but Albeau would win on countback as he would’ve beaten Iachino/Mortefon in 3 out of the 5 events.

Other scenarios where Albeau could win would be:

- If Iachino/Mortefon were to finish 7th then a second place would be good enough for Albeau to win.
- If Iachino/Mortefon were to finish 8th then a third place would be good enough for Albeau to win etc.

You’ll be able to watch how the world title races unfold by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com from the 18th-23rd November with Ben Proffitt to guide you through the action.