2002 PWA Freestyle Qualifier Neuesiedler See Austria Day 2

Wind, sunshine and thousands of spectators made this an epic freestyle day. The competition area was moved a little bit further out because of the wind direction from southeast.

Wind, sunshine and thousands of spectators made this an epic freestyle day.

The competition area was moved a little bit further out because of the wind direction from southeast. The wind picked up during the first hour of the competition and the riders decided to rig sails between 4,7 and 5,2 meters.

The mission of the day was to complete the six remaining heats of the double elimination. We saw a very strong performance from two Austrian riders Michi Schweiger (Naish/Naish), and Alex Humpel (Neil Pryde/JP), who got fifth and forth respectively.

It was a hard battle between the top three riders: Top freestyle rider Web Pedrick (North Sails/AHD), from the Gorge was, in spite of an excellent performance, beaten by Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde/JP), the young rider from Venezuela who showed amazing moves and amongst many others a perfect back loop on flat water. He then had to face Remko de Weerd (Gaastra/AHD), and was sailing at his best to beat the Dutchman in the first final.

Since Remko won the first round and Diony the second final of the so-called double elimination, another final had to be sailed to decide whom the absolute winner of this first double elimination was. This time the Dutchman showed all his tricks in a very clean and technically brilliant way and took the lead over Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde/JP), who seemed after so many heats a little powered out.

Result after one double elimination:
1. Remko de Weerd (Gaastra/AHD)
2. Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde/JP)
3. Web Pedrick (North Sails/AHD)
4. Alex Humpel (Neil Pryde/JP)

That is the result at the moment, but the races go on for two more days.

With an explosive exhibition session, where all the riders showed their best moves very close to the crowd, this amazing windsurfing day came to an end. But now the second discipline, the party discipline is on schedule: Tonight with a nice little party at the famous Martinskeller.

Beat Steffan

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