Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam

July 28, 2026 Created by Chris Yates

Event Summary: Sotavanto delivers 10 unbelievably windy days as Sarah-Quita Offringa, Justine Lemeteyer & Matteo Iachino claim world titles, while Lennart Neubauer leads Freestyle World Tour

The 38th edition of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam proved to be one of the most spectacular editions in recent memory as Sotavento delivered ten extremely windy days out of ten. The first five days saw the Freestyle fleets take centre stage and the contortionists of the windsurfing world produced some of the highest level Freestyle ever seen, which eventually saw Sarah-Quita Offringa and Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) come out on top after some ferocious battles.

Meanwhile, the second half of the event saw the Men's and Women's Slalom X world titles up for grabs and boy did they have to work for those world crowns with extreme wind and water conditions across all five days. The conditions were so extreme this year that many of the sailor classified this as some of the toughest conditions they've ever competed in, which proved a firm test of their mettle, while providing a sensational show for the viewer. At the end of the event, Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) and Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails / Z Fins) claimed the respective world titles to finish the season as the 2026 Slalom X PWA World Champions.

Freestyle

Women’s

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) had to do things the hard way in Fuerteventura as she had to come from behind for the first time since 2008 to retain her world title after Maaike Huvermann (Severne Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins) laid down a fierce challenge to win the Single Elimination. However, Offringa is a serial champion and is able to raise her level when it matters most and that’s exactly what the Aruban managed to do in 40 knot winds during the Double Elimination as she inadvertently broke Huvermann’s heart. Offringa never knows when she is beaten and deservedly walks away with a 17th Freestyle world title and 29th overall, while keeping her unbelievable unbeaten record in Fuerte intact - stretching back to 2008.

Having come the closest yet to achieving her dream of becoming Freestyle world champion, this defeat will obviously hurt Huvermann a lot, but the 28-year-old should be incredibly proud of what she achieved over the first four days. Huvermann has already stated that she’ll be back in 2027 to try and finally get her hands on the world crown and with another year of training under her belt it promises to be another blockbuster.

Meanwhile, Lisa Kloster (Starboard) completes the podium for the second year in a row with the 26-year-old raising her level again with the additions of more power moves and consistency.

Men’s The Men’s Freestyle saw some of the best conditions ever during a competition with howling winds and head high kickers turning Sotavento into the equivalent of a windsurfing skatepark. The level throughout the fleet was incredibly high, but Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) were the standout sailors and they were almost inseparable in the Single Elimination Final and the Double Elimination Final. However, on this occasion it was Neubauer who came out on top as the 22-year-old takes the world title race lead into Sylt, Germany, in September as he looks to regain his Freestyle world crown from 2024. Neubauer continues to improve and has now won five out of the last six Freestyle events on the World Tour.

Caers keeps his superb record in Fuerteventura with the Belgian being on the podium every year here since 2016 and on another day the decision in both finals could’ve gone the other way, such was the closeness between these two. Caers was the only man in the fleet to land double forward and double air culos and will head into Sylt firmly in the race for the 2026 world title.

Balz Müller (Severne Windsurfing) has been one of the most innovative sailors of his generation as he continually looks to push the sport forwards. However, until now, Mr. Freestyle didn’t quite have the top result to go with his undoubted talent. That has all changed now for the 32-year-old as he deservedly completes the podium in Fuerteventura.

Elsewhere, Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360) staged a great comeback in the double to fight back into fourth place after winning four consecutive heats and defeating Takumi Moriya (Severne Windsurfing) in the battle for fourth and fifth, while France’s Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde) also won four heats on the spin to secure sixth place after also mounting an impressive comeback.

The top ten is completed by the Belgian duo of Steven Van Broeckhoven (WeOne / GUNSAILS) and Dieter Van der Eyken (Severne Windsurfing) - joint 7th - and France’s Nicolas Akgazciyan (Goya Windsurfing), Netherland’ Bodhi Kempen (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins), Japan’s Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails) and the UK’s George Grisley (Duotone Windsurfing), who secures his first top ten on the World Tour - all joint 9th.

Slalom X

Women’s

Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) recovered from a slow opening day to claim her third world title and her first Slalom X crown. Lemeteyer went from strength to strength as the event progressed and won five out of the last six eliminations and seven out of the last nine to eventually power away from Femke van der Veen (Starboard / Severne Sails) and Jenna Gibson (Duotone Windsurfing). The 23-year-old will also take great confidence away from how she performed on the last day here as her previous two title run-ins in Japan have gone a lot different, but she’s clearly learned from those experiences and drew upon that experience to thrive.

Van der Veen continues to improve and the 26-year-old walks away from the Slalom X World Tour with her best result to date as she finishes the year as the vice-world champion. Van der Veen was by far the most consistent sailor - finishing outside the top four in two out of the fifteen eliminations.

Jenna Gibson will be disappointed with how the week played out in the end after making a flying start on day one as she claimed a brilliant hat-trick. However Gibson faded slightly as the week progressed as the fastest woman in the world struggled physically after picking up a virus in France in June. Everyone from the PWA wishes Jenna the best with her recovery and she’ll no doubt be back to challenge for the world title again next year.

Not only did Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) win the new Under 55kg division, but the 16-year-old also sailed out of her skin to finish fourth in the overall rankings. De Jong secured four, second place finishes as she continues to show that she’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

Mae Davico (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) completes the top five, one place ahead of Blanca Alabau (WeOne / Severne Windsurfing)

Men’s

For the opening three days, Matteo Iachino (Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins) produced arguably one of his highest standard performances ever on the World Tour as the Italian won five out of the first seven eliminations to hold a perfect record (two discards). A slight wobble on the final day, when the 36-year-old suffered a shock semifinal exit in Elimination 10 made the last day a lot more stressful than it should've been after performing at such a high level all week, but eventually he got the job done by securing second place in the eleventh and last elimination to become the first man to steal the Slalom X crown from the grasp of Pierre Mortefon (FMX Racing / North Sails). Iachino looked incredibly quick all week and will now turn his attentions back to Foil Slalom - where he is the defending champion - as he looks to win a fifth PWA world title a little later in the year.

Mortefon never knows when he’s beaten and he showed his champion qualities again in Elimination 10 to force an unlikely deciding elimination, which he also won, but was powerless to stop Iachino from winning this time out. Mortefon was made to pay for a slightly slower start after a quarterfinal exit in Elimination 3, but otherwise raced very solidly as he qualified for every other Winners’ Final, while he won three out of the last four eliminations to finish as the vice-world champion.

Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde) gave his fans one heck of a rollercoaster ride over the course of the last five days with a few lows eventually being replaced with a high as the Pole completes the podium for the second consecutive year in Fuerteventura. After starting with a ninth, sixteenth and a twenty-fifth, Rutkowski deserves great credit for not panicking and producing a superb comeback, which looked highly unlikely after the opening three eliminations.

Elsewhere, Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins) used both of his discards on the opening day, which left him playing catchup, but the Bonairean recovered into fourth place - just 2.6 points off of the podium. After a slightly disappointing first day, Vrieswijk qualified for all of the remaining nine Winners’ Finals to edge out Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde), who finishes fifth. Prien was battling with some health issues throughout the week after a trip to Madagascar, but still pulled out a top five result.

Elsewhere, Jimmy Thieme (FMX Racing / Point-7) also recovered from a slower than ideal start as the Frenchman eventually earned his best result to date on the World Tour - 6th - with the 27-year-old revelling in the extreme conditions.

Taty Frans (Future Fly / Point-7) was in contention for the podium in the early stages of the event, but just went off the boil in the middle of the event to take home seventh place, just a few points ahead of Bruno Martini (WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins) - 8th - and Benoit Merceur (Starboard / Severne Sails) - 9th - while Lohan Jules (AV Boards / S2Maui) completes the top ten, while the 24-year-old earned his best result in a single race - second in Elimination 10.

Under 80kg Division

Elsewhere, Brendan Lorho (S2Maui) looks like a real star for the future after the 21-year-old not only convincingly won the new Under 80kg division, but the young Frenchman also finished just a couple of points outside of the top ten - twelfth. Lorho excelled with some exquisite gybing, but he also showed a tremendous amount of straight-line pace. Lorho finished the event by qualifying for two out of the last three Winners’ Finals - where he finished in an impressive fourth and fifth place - to announce himself on the world stage. Victor Delerue (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) finishes second in the Under 80kg fleet, while 15-year-old Gaetan Obin completes the top three.

That concludes what must be one of the windiest ever editions of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam with howling winds on every single day of the event as Sotavento continues to live up to its legendary name. A huge thanks from everyone at the PWA to Annika and her team - without whom the event wouldn’t be possible and we look forward to returning in 2027. Congratulations once again to all the winners.

Waterspeed - Global Windsurfer Quest

Stay tuned to find out who will win the signed lycra… and keep competing until December to have your chance to win overall.

Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?

The Wave fleets will be in action again for the WWT/PWA Tenerife World Cup, which starts on the 31st July and runs until August 9th. Meanwhile, the next fully fledged PWA event will be the Sylt Windsurf World Cup Super Grand Slam, which takes place between 25th September until 4th October.

Result 2026 PWA World Tour - Women’s Freestyle

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Maaike Huvermann (NED | Severne Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Lisa Kloster (GER | Starboard)
4th Sandra Schill (GER)
5th Helena Lale (GER | Severne Windsurfing)

Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women’s Freestyle

Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Freestyle

1st Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Balz Müller (SUI | Severne Windsurfing)
4th Jacopo Testa (ITA | WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360)
5th Takumi Moriya (JPN | Severne Windsurfing)
6th Sam Esteve (FRA | JP / NeilPryde) 7th Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | WeOne / GUNSAILS)
7th Dieter Van der Eyken (BEL | Severne Windsurfing)
9th Bodhi Kempen (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
9th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Nicolas Akgazciyan (FRA | Goya Windsurfing)
9th George Grisley (UK | Duotone Windsurfing)

Result 2026 PWA World Tour - Women’s Slalom X

Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women’s Slalom X

Result 2026 PWA World Tour - Men’s Slalom X

1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | FMX Racing / North Sails)
3rd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins)
5th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
6th Jimmy Thieme (FRA | FMX Racing / Point-7)
7th Taty Frans (NB | Future Fly / Point-7)
8th Bruno Martini (ITA | WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins)
9th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
10th Lohan Jules (GPE | AV Boards / S2Maui)

Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom X

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