schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt
Day four of the schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt (third day of competition) was billed as potentially one of the biggest days of action of this year’s event and that’s exactly how things played out as the Men’s Freestyle Double Elimination was completed in some of the best freestyle conditions witnessed in Sylt for a long time. Meanwhile, after the completion of the epic freestyle there was still time to squeeze in one elimination of racing, which brought a change to the top of the event rankings.
Men’s
Freestyle
Having been eliminated by the eventual single elimination winner - Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) - in the round of 16 yesterday, Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) left himself a mountain to climb in order to claim his second world title. However, Caers didn’t simply climb the mountain, he absolutely conquered it as he produced a superb comeback, which saw him win 8 successive heats in the double to deservedly claim his second world crown - adding to his previous success from 2019.
No-one can argue with Caers’ achievement as he really was a cut above the rest of the competition today. Not only was the Belgian the sole sailor to break the 40 points barrier, the 28-year-old achieved this feat in 6 out of his 7 winning heats today as he produced not only an extremely explosive performance, but also one of unbelievable consistency to prove that he is currently the best freestyler in the world as he finishes 2023 with a first and second place, and more importantly a second world crown.
Caers was only denied the event victory by Neubauer, who sailed a brilliant final to successfully claim his first event victory on the World Tour as the 19-year-old signs off the 2023 season in the perfect fashion, whilst putting his serious knee injury from 2021 firmly behind him. Neubauer finishes 2023 as the vice-world champion and you wouldn’t bet against him going one place better in the next season or two based on his level of performance here.
Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins) started the day in pole position to defend his world title, but despite going toe-to-toe with Caers in the early stages of Heat 33 the Frenchman would eventually lose out to his world title rival. The 32-year-old still finishes the season ranked third overall, which is made all the more impressive by the fact that he has not been able to solely focus on his freestyle pursuits.
We’ll be back in the event summary to take a full look at the overall Freestyle results.
Slalom
After the completion of the explosive Freestyle, attention soon switched back to the racing, which saw Elimination 4 completed in 8-20 knots of wind, which brought the discard into play and with it a change atop of the rankings.
Johan Søe (FMX Racing / Point-7) started the day as the event leader and remains the only sailor to have qualified for every winners’ final thus far, but the young Dane slides two places to third after Elimination 4. Søe is yet to finish outside the top 5, but it is Mateus Isaac (Severne / Severne Sails), who picks up the event lead after continuing to make a quite brilliant return to the slalom scene.
The Brazilian missed out on the opening winners’ final, but has since recorded results of two second places followed by a third today, which sees him open up a 2.7 point advantage over Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) at the top of the event rankings.
Iachino is able to discard a 12th place from Elimination 3, but ‘only’ ended up finishing 7th in the winners’ final today. The Italian looked set to challenge for the top positions after another well-timed start, but dropped back with his gamble of not changing up gear size, not paying off on this occasion.
On the opening day of racing, Nicolas Goyard (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) had threatened to strike, but ultimately missed out for one reason or another, but today he earned his first bullet of the event, which sees him remain fifth in the current event rankings.
Elsewhere, Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) gains a couple of places and climbs into 4th, while Daniele Benedetti (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) climbs four spots to 6th after booking his place in another winners’ final. The Italian missed out on the top 8 in the opener, but has since finished 4th, 5th and 6th.
The top 10 is currently completed by Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails), - 7th - who came into the event leading the World Tour rankings, but if things were to finish as they were now, Matteo Iachino would assume the title race control. Michele Becker (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils), Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) and Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / Severne Sails).
The Slalom fleet will meet again at 10am (GMT+2) tomorrow morning for their skippers’ meeting. The forecast looks marginal on paper with 7-12 knot winds from the south-southeast currently predicted, but given how low the threshold to now be able to compete on foils is, there is still every chance of more racing tomorrow. If conditions are suitable, the first possible start is 11:30am.
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Overall Rankings 2023 PWA World Tour - Men’s Freestyle
1st Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone / Duotone Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | Starboard / GUNSAILS)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA | AV Boards / Point-7 / AL360)
6th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
7th Antony Ruenes (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
8th Antoine Albert (NC | Goya Windsurfing)
9th Youp Schmit (NB | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)
Result 2023 schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Freestyle
1st Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | Starboard / GUNSAILS)
4th Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone / Duotone Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA | AV Boards / Point-7 / AL360)
6th Antoine Albert (NC | Goya Windsurfing)
7th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)
7th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Takumi Moriya (JPN | Severne / Severne Sails)
9th Youp Schmit (NB | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Sam Esteve (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
Current Ranking 2023 schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Slalom
*After 4 Eliminations (1 Discard)
1st Mateus Isaac (BRA | Severne / Severne Sails)
2nd Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Johan Søe (DEN | FMX Racing / Point-7)
4th Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
6th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
7th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
8th Michele Becker (GER | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils)
9th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Sebastian Kördel (GER | Starboard / Severne Sails)