Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup

Event Summary: 5 days of exciting racing sees Marion Mortefon claim second World title, whilst Maciek Rutkowski survives final day rollercoaster to be crowned World Champion & Enrico Marotti tastes victory for first time

The previous two editions of the Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup (2018 and ’19), were held in May, but with COVID causing a delay to this year's event it was pushed back until November, which proved to be a great success with Tsukuihama Beach producing the best wind conditions we have seen in Japan so far with racing being possible on every day of the event, whilst it provided a stern test for the sailors with competition taking place in anywhere from flat water and 5-10 knots of wind, to 35 knots and ultra choppy hardcore slalom. With two world titles on the line, things became incredibly tense on the final day…

Slalom

Women’s 

Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone) came into Japan as the defending Foil PWA World Champion, but with this being the first Women’s event in which fin and foil were combined it was always going to be intriguing the effect that that would have on the results. In the end, Mortefon proved dominant on both the fin and the foil as the 30-year-old recorded two bullets, a second and a third in the opening 4 eliminations to build an unassailable lead. The final day was the only time that Mortefon missed out on a place in the Winners’ Final and she would eventually win the event by 7.6 points. Mortefon was in a different league for the majority of the event and deservedly walks away with her second world crown. 

Mortefon’s closest challenger was Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL), who was making her debut on the full PWA World Tour. The French girl was incredibly impressive - being the only sailor to be able to boast a 100% qualifying record for the Winners’ Finals, whilst she never finished lower than 5th in the 5 eliminations completed. Lemeteyer walks away from 2022 as the vice-world champion and she looks like a real name to watch in the coming seasons.

The French have been a dominant force in the world of Slalom for many years and they show no signs of relinquishing that position as they walk away with an all French podium with Delphine Cousin Questel (FMX Racing / S2Maui) completing the prestigious overall podium. The 5-time world champion snatched the final place in the top 3 after claiming her second bullet of the week in the last elimination to pip Helle Oppedal (Starboard / Severne Sails) to third by just 0.6 of a point. 

Oppedal has to settle for fourth place just ahead of - Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails) - who claimed her maiden bullet on the World Tour in Elimination 2 and looked as though she could become Mortefon’s main threat after finishing second in the next race, however, her challenge for the title drifted away as she finished the event with and 8th and 10th place.

Men’s

Heading into the final day of the event the Men’s World title race was balanced on a knife edge with it being mathematically possible for one of four sailors to come out on top - Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails), who led the world rankings at that stage, Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails), Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde), who led the event ranking, and Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails) and the final day didn’t disappoint with drama that you couldn’t have scripted taking place. 

Disaster struck for Rutkowski in the quarterfinals as he was eliminated from Heat 9 after hitting a piece of debris whilst prominently placed. At that moment it looked as though Rutkowski’s world title dreams were turning to tatters and his emotion understandably boiled over upon returning to the beach as his dream day looked like turning into a nightmare. 

Rutkowski would spend the rest of the day having to agonisingly watch the racing, whilst hoping that results fell in his favour to claim a maiden world title. Both Iachino and Marotti qualified for the Winners’ Final, so the race for the title would come down to that one heat. In order for Iachino to deny Rutkowski the Italian would have to finish two places ahead of Nicolas Goyard (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils), or hope that Johan Soe (FMX Racing / Point-7) would finish in the top 3. In the end, Iachino would only finish fourth, but Rutkowski was still made it sweat it out as Soe chased - Mateus Isaac (Severne / Severne Sails) - down the home straight for third, but it wouldn’t be long until Rutkowski’s earlier shouts of anger were replaced by screams of joy as he survived a rollercoaster of a day to be crowned the 2022 Men’s PWA Slalom World Champion. Rutkowski’s journey has been years in the making and his hard work has finally paid off!

Matteo Iachino eventually finished level on points with Rutkowski, but agonisingly loses out on countback. The Italian has been incredibly close to adding to his maiden world title from 2016 on a couple of occasions now and whilst it will hurt to be on the wrong side of the decision this time there were plenty of positives to take away from this event and 2022 as a whole. Iachino claimed his first bullet on the World Tour since 2019 (5* event) in Elimination 2 and he has finished on the podium in each event this year. You can expect to see Iachino challenging for top honours again in 2023.

Enrico Marotti completes the prestigious overall podium after claiming a superb first victory on the World Tour. The Croat finishes with counting results of two firsts, and two second places such was the standard of his performance in Japan. Marotti has been one of the quickest sailors on tour for a few seasons now, so it was just a question of finding the consistency to crack the top and it seems like he may have well just figured out that formula, so he will be an even bigger threat next year!

Amado Vrieswijk came into Japan leading the event rankings after claiming a brilliant victory in Germany, however, things didn’t quite go the Bonairean’s way this event with moments of bad luck costing him dearly. In the end, a fifth place finish here would’ve been enough to see Vrieswijk claim the world title, but he eventually finishes 4th overall after finishing 7th in Japan, which is hugely impressive given this is his first full year focusing on Slalom. Vrieswijk is one of the most talented all-round sailors in the World of windsurfing and he’s already claimed multiple discipline victories on the World Tour and he’ll be a serious threat moving into 2023 onwards.

Nicolas Goyard may not have been able to defend his world title from 2021, but the Frenchman will have been delighted to finish the season the way he did by claiming second place in Japan, whilst having every chance of winning the event heading into the final race. Things didn’t really click for 26-year-old in Germany, so it was important for him to bounce back and he did just that - winning two out of the 5 eliminations - and finishing just two points behind Marotti. Goyard’s excellent second place here sees him climb 4 places in the overall rankings to finish 5th for 2022.

Brazil’s - Mateus Isaac (Severne / Severne Sails) - finishes the 2022 season ranked 6th in the World. Isaac bounced back brilliantly from a quarterfinal exit in the second elimination, but then not finishing outside the top 10, whilst he signed off the final race with a solid third place. 

For the first time in seven seasons - Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils) - misses out on a place in the overall top 3, bringing an end to a remarkable run, as the Frenchman has to settle for 7th in the overalls for 2022. Mortefon has been one of the top racers on the planet since 2014, and whilst this represents a little hiccup on his sublime record, things just never really went his way over the course of the last 5 days. Expect to see Mortefon bounce straight back next season.

Alongside event winner, Enrico Marotti, Johan Soe is the only other sailor to be able to boast a 100% qualifying record for the Winners’ Finals. Soe may still be only be 18-years-old, but he’s already marked himself as one of the best emerging talents in the World. The Dane, who was competing in his debut season on the World Tour, finished 5th in Japan to cement his place in the overall top 10 - 8th - which is an incredible feat. Soe possesses all the hallmarks to be a future World Champion.

The overall top 10 is completed by - Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone) - who finishes the season with two tenth place finishes, and Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / Severne Sails).

The end of the 2022 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup also means we wave goodbye to one of the greatest windsurfers in history as Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) hangs up his boom from the PWA World Tour. AA will be a sorely missed character on the tour having won an incredible 25 World titles across multiple disciplines in a career spanning 3 decades. Everyone at the PWA would like to wish Albeau all the best for the future and to congratulate him once more on a remarkable career.

The 2022 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup provided an incredible 5 days of racing, and we hope you enjoyed the action as much as we did. The Foil once again demonstrated its value on multiple occasions by transforming what would’ve been lay days into close quarters, exciting racing and we looks forward to returning to Japan next year. So until next time, we would like to extend our thanks to the organisers and all of the volunteers - without whom it would not be possible to run this fantastic event. See you again in 2023.

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Result 2022 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup - Women’s Slalom

1st Marion Mortefon | FRA (Fanatic / Duotone)
2nd Justine Lemeteyer | FRA (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL)
3rd Delphine Cousin Questel | FRA (FMX Racing / S2Maui)
4th Helle Oppedal | NOR (Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Blanca Alabau | ESP (Starboard / Severne Sails)
6th Ma Kwan Ching | HK
7th Sarah-Quita Offringa | ARU (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
8th Jenna Gibson | GBR (Fanatic/ Duotone)
9th Rina Niijima | JPN
10th Veerle ten Have | NZL

Overall Ranking 2022 PWA World Tour - Women’s Slalom

1st Marion Mortefon | FRA (Fanatic / Duotone)
2nd Justine Lemeteyer | FRA (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL)
3rd Delphine Cousin Questel | FRA (FMX Racing / S2Maui)
4th Helle Oppedal | NOR (Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Blanca Alabau | ESP (Starboard / Severne Sails)
6th Ma Kwan Ching | HK
7th Sarah-Quita Offringa | ARU (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
8th Jenna Gibson | GBR (Fanatic/ Duotone)
9th Rina Niijima | JPN
10th Veerle ten Have | NZL 

Result 2022 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup - Men’s Slalom

1st Enrico Marotti | CRO (JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Nicolas Goyard | FRA (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
3rd Matteo Iachino | ITA (Starboard / Severne Sails)
4th Maciek Rutkowski | POL (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
5th Johan Soe | DEN (FMX Racing / Point-7)
6th Mateus Isaac | BRA (Severne / Severne Sails)
7th Amado Vrieswijk | NB (Future Fly / Severne Sails)
8th Pierre Mortefon | FRA (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils)
9th Basile Jacquin | FRA (FMX Racing / Point-7)
10th Jordy Vonk | NED (Fanatic / Duotone)

Overall Ranking 2022 PWA World Tour - Men’s Slalom

1st Maciek Rutkowski | POL (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
2nd Matteo Iachino | ITA (Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Enrico Marotti | CRO (JP / NeilPryde)
4th Amado Vrieswijk | NB (Future Fly / Severne Sails)
5th Nicolas Goyard | FRA (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
6th Mateus Isaac | BRA (Severne / Severne Sails)
7th Pierre Mortefon | FRA (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils)
8th Johan Soe | DEN (FMX Racing / Point-7)
9th Jordy Vonk | NED (Fanatic / Duotone)
10th Sebastian Kördel | GER (Starboard / Severne Sails)

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