Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt
Sylt is often known for producing some of the most hardcore and challenging Freestyle conditions there are. However, over the last few years Sylt has produced some amazing conditions and Day 8 of the 2025 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt delivered world class conditions once again as strong winds, albeit it on the chilly side, combined with perfect kickers to produce skatepark-like conditions. When you give some of the world’s most talented sailors a canvas to display their true artistry, you are rewarded with breathtaking results and today will go down in Freestyle history for a couple of reasons. Firstly, today saw a world’s first as the contest was judged purely via drone, while the Freestylers continued to raise the bar on what is possible with new moves and combinations being landed to cap a truly groundbreaking day for Freestyle. As things stand, Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) is on the verge of earning a third Freestyle world title, while Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) is set to win here for the second time in three years (no full result gained in 2024).
Men’s
Freestyle
Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) produced a truly inspired display to deservedly win the Men’s Freestyle Single Elimination ahead of Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde). The 21-year-old smashed the 40 point barrier in every heat he sailed today as he displayed possibly his highest level of sailing thus far on the World Tour. In his opening heat - Heat 10b - against Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde), Neubauer produced the highest scoring heat since the introduction of the current scoring system as he earned a phenomenal 48.2 points, which is about as close to perfection as you can currently come. The pick of the bunch were a massive shifty shaka - 9.5 points - and a triple culo, that he almost planed out of - 9.2 points - with the latter being the first time this combination has been landed during a contest.
Neubauer met Yentel Caers in the Winners’ Final and both sailors produced explosive displays with powerful combinations being landed left, right and centre. However, even though Caers earned a massive 42 points, it wasn’t enough to deny Neubauer the top spot on the podium in the Single Elimination as the talented young Greek edged the final by racking up 44.2 points.
Caers’ main focus was of course on maintaining his lead in the race for the 2025 Men’s Freestyle World Championship and the Belgian has managed to do just that after navigating his way into the top two. With the focus on Saturday being on gaining results in the Wave fleets, Caers is now on the verge of equalling Ricardo Campello’s haul of three Freestyle world titles. The Belgian was at the very top of his game today as he broke the 40 point barrier in three out of the four heats he sailed and the 30-year-old once again showed how good he is at sailing under pressure - when it matters most.
Caers’ main world title rival - Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GUNSAILS) - was knocked out in the semifinals by Neubauer, in what was another engrossing heat, as windsurfing fans were treated to an absolute feast of action. The stylish Italian was another sailor to land a new move on the World Tour today as he consistently landed double air shakas to wow the crowds and the judges, but it wasn’t quite enough to stop Neubauer on this occasion.
The Italian then faced teammate - Steven Van Broeckhoven (WeOne / GUNSAILS) - in the battle for third and fourth in the Single Elimination and they proved almost impossible to split. With just two minutes to go the two of them were tied on 34.4 points, but Testa pulled it out of the bag by landing a shifty shaka in the penultimate minute of the heat to edge ahead by just half a point. Van Broeckhoven thought he might have won it in the dying seconds with a double burner, but unfortunately for the Belgian it was landed just after the buzzer, so it didn’t count.
The top three title contenders all produced phenomenal displays today and all of them should be proud of how valiantly they fought under the most extreme pressure in sport. As things stand, Van Broeckhoven would finish fourth here, which if things remain as they are, would see him just miss out on the overall podium as Neubauer would pip him to the final place in the overall top three.
Meanwhile, Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins) is set to earn his best result to date on the Freestyle World Tour after sailing some of his best heats to date, which sees him ranked joint fifth in the Single Elimination alongside Balz Müller (Severne Windsurfing), Youp Schmit (Flikka) and Dieter Van der Eyken (Severne Windsurfing), with the Belgian taking down his mentee - Takumi Moriya (Severne Windsurfing) in the Round of 16.
Heading into the last official day of competition at the 2025 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt, Saturday looks set to belong to the Wave sailors, who have waited patiently on the side lines up until now. The WindGuru forecast though, is a tricky one, with winds of up to 50 knot southerly winds and 3 metre waves predicted for the early morning. That in itself isn't tricky, however, the amount of rainfall with the wind is, and it's then expected to drop for at least a few hours before roaring back, so it may prove to be a bit of a game of cat-and-mouse. But we'll broach that as we come to it. The Wave skippers' has been called for a dark and early 7am (GMT+2) with a first possible start at 07:30am.
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Current Ranking 2025 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Freestyle Single Elimination
1st Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Jacopo Testa (ITA | WeOne / GUNSAILS)
4th Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | WeOne / GUNSAILS)
5th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
5th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne Windsurfing)
5th Dieter Van der Eyken (BEL | Severne Windsurfing)
5th Youp Schmit (NB | Flikka)
Result 2025 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Foil Slalom
1st Johan Søe (DEN | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
2nd Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Pierre Mortefon (FRA | FMX Racing / NeilPryde)
5th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Point-7 / Z Foils)
6th William Huppert (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
7th John Soukos (GRE | WeOne / Challenger Sails)
8th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | Duotone Windsurfing)
9th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
10th Fabian Wolf (GER | Starboard / Severne Sails)