Alaçati Windfest PWA Youth & Junior Slalom World Cup

Racing swiftly got underway on the final day of the 2025 Alaçati Windfest PWA Youth & Junior Slalom World Cup and the usual suspects were at the front in the opening rounds. Tour leaders from the U15 and U21 Boy's, Arxon Gomperts (Future Fly / Point-7) and Brendan Lorho (FMX Racing / S2Maui), both took the opening victories in their fleets to continue their almost perfect streak of victories this season, whilst the strength of the Turkish riders was apparent as they took victory in the opening elimination in all other divisions.

But as we rolled into Elimination 2, the wind unexpectedly took a break and the hopes of completing three or four eliminations began to fade. The question on everyone’s lips was - would it return? Would we even be able to finish the second elimination? Luckily, after an hour it came back full tilt and racing was back underway.

Everything was on the line and riders were pushing hard knowing this could be the last round of the competition.

In the U15 Boy’s, Arxon Gomperts and Victor Schulz-Jakobsen were a little too eager and jumped the gun leaving them with maximum points alongside their opening-round success. This left the door open for German, Mika Henning (Duotone Windsurfing) to come through and take the elimination win and with it the event victory.

The U13 Boy’s was a very closely fought fleet with the lead exchanging back and forth throughout both races, but in the end, it was local boy Ahmet Demir Baştuğ who ultimately took the victory.

The U13 Girl’s victory was also taken by a local rider – Selin Dilber edged out Selin Diaz (Starboard / Duotone Windsurfing) in both races to take the win.

Irem Metim is a name to watch out for in years to come as she took not only the victory in the U15 Girl’s foil, but also in the fin. She has a tenacity on the race course that cannot be taught and fights hard but fair through every gybe.

The U17 Boy’s could not have been closer between Tycho Smits (Future Fly / Point-7) and Doruk Daniel Eder. Doruk landed the first blow, and was in an attacking position in Elimination 2, whilst Smits was let down on the starts and left fighting back in both races. A fantastic final gybe from Smits edged him into the lead down the last leg, whilst Doruk dropped to third. With them both joint on points, Smits’ win in the final race was the decider that gave him the event win on countback as he claims his third event victory this season.

Unlike the boys, the U17 Girl’s saw a clear-cut victory for Damla Kurtdemir (Duotone Windsurfing) with a convincing win in both races to add to her win on the foil. A product of the Cagla Kubat Windsurf Academy, Kurtdemir is set to make her Pro World Tour debut in Japan next month and test her skills against the best women in the world.

The U21 Girl’s was a battle between the whole fleet – Ahniia led into mark 1 but dropped a gybe in the opening race to finish 3rd whilst a poor start from Louise van der Meulen (Starboard / Severne / Z Fins) in the opening race also left her back in the pack. Selin Aktas capitalised to take the opening bullet but the girls came back fighting in the second elimination. van der Meulen has to be one of the most improved riders over the last two years and her progress in the Youth Tour has been remarkable. This was underlined by her performance in the final race where she won by a considerable margin, but was left ruing her earlier mistake as Selin Aktas took home the victory after demonstrating her consistency with a second place in Elimination 2.

Last but not least, the U21 Boy’s, which saw Brendan Lorho claim a convincing win in Elimination 1, but as they approached the first mark in Elimination 2 it was 17-year-old Storm Nicolai (Starboard) from Bonaire in the lead with Thijs Hanemaaijer (FMX Racing / North Sails) close behind. If Hanemaaijer could win this elimination, he would defend his event title from last year and take both the fin and foil titles here, but alas Nicolai crashed his gybe at the second buoy, giving Hanemaaijer nowhere to go except the water, whilst Lorho cruised through and to victory to make it four wins from four events this season and perhaps more impressively – 42 bullets from 48 eliminations sailed on the Youth Tour in 2025! He deservedly takes home the PWA Youth World Tour Champion trophy with an event to spare in his final year as a youth. With Hanemaaijer crashing out, local rider Ibrahim Ali Donmez (Duotone Windsurfing) was able to take second in Elimination 2 and also snatch the spot of Hanemaaijer on the podium as they finished second and third respectively.

Results available HERE.

Overall Youth & Junior Tour Rankings can be found HERE.