First Foil Victory

Marion Mortefon Reflects on Winning her First Foil Event in Israel After More Than 18 Months Off the World Tour

 

Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / LOKEFOIL) made an excellent return to the race course in Israel last month as the 29-year-old claimed her first Foil victory on the world tour, whilst also managing to place second in the Slalom during the 2021 Tiberias PWA World Cup. After more than 18 months away from top level racing the first event was always going to be an interesting affair and there were plenty of twists and turns along the way. We recently caught up with Marion to find out more about her first victory on the Foil and also what it was like to be back competing at the highest level. 

Hi Marion, congrats on your Foil victory and second place in the Slalom in Israel… how was it to be back competing on the world tour?

I was super excited to come back on the tour! It was challenging for the organiser to make it happen during this strange period, but they made it, with a super good set up! We have seen also new faces that’s super good for the tour! 

That was your first victory on the Foil - have you been training a lot on the foil over the last 18 months?

We did only 2 event on the world tour in the women division before this one, with a 18 month break, lot of things changed! 

I trained a lot on the foil since the covid break as I have more and more conditions for this at home. I’m also loving it a lot. I like to progress on this new discipline, everyday you can learn a lot. I’m doing IQ Foil in the same time, we had trainings with the French team, so for sure I improved a lot. I’m doing also a lot of Foil courses with the Mortefon Watersports Center, that help me to understand a lot of things. 

Heading into the final day there was almost nothing between you and Helle Oppedal - how were your nerves heading into the final day? And how did you feel when you found out that Helle had missed out on the final to guarantee you the victory?

It was a big day for me as it was also super close in slalom with Delphine Cousin [Questel]. Last races were stressful. But my plan was to take race after race, first the qualification round then the final. It worked pretty well as I managed to qualify and to make a good last race in the final. I have seen that Helle was not qualifying for sure, pressure was a bit less, but it was not sure that this race was the last one, you never know then, the goal was to be focus!   

You also sailed extremely consistently in the Slalom - how happy were you with your performance there?

For sure happy with my performance! Great battle with Delphine and Sarah, Sarah was a step ahead, but I did not tell my last word. I really like the adrenaline during the slalom course as you go full on the first reach to pass the mark first. Some girls were missing because of the political and covid situation, but we still have the top level and it was a really nice event to come back on the tour. 

The conditions looked extremely tricky with massive gusts and wind shifts - just how hard was it to select to right equipment and sail there?

It was super stressful to choose the equipment, especially in foil as the conditions were super super gusty, like from 4 to 25 knots. I’m not used to sail with the same equipment in these different kind of wind! Most of the time we had the same equipment as the men. 

Gybes were super hard, I’m not training at all in this wind in foil with reaching mode. But now I know that we will do races in this, and we can really improve with trainings in theses conditions!

The next proposed event would be in a couple of months in South Korea - what will you be doing between now and then?

I came back home and work for my centre, giving some lessons. I will also train a lot for South Korea, hope Covid will not come back until the event! I’m also training in IQ Foil for the World’s in Silvaplana, so busy program :)

Thanks, Marion. Congrats again on your victory!