Five eliminations for the women and three for the men were held yesterday in over 30 knots. The gap between the leaders in the foil slalom is currently only wafer-thin. As things stand at the moment, Justine Lemeteyer and Daniele Benedetti are leading the rankings.
Justin Lemeteyer takes the lead
Justine Lemeteyer started the day 5.6 points behind leader Marion Mortefon, but after five more races the reigning slalom runner-up overtook Mortefon to take the lead. Lemeteyer won the final elimination of the day yesterday and continued her good form today as she took four wins in the five races. She fought her way up to third place in the seventh elimination with an incredible performance, which could yet prove decisive as had she finished fourth she would not currently be in the lead, such is the narrow gap at the top of the leaderboard. Lemeteyer finishes the day 0.3 points ahead of Mortefon. Lemeteyer's top speed was the real killer today, which she fully utilised with a new personal best of 31 knots on the foil.
Mortefon was almost unstoppable on the first day of racing and rode well again today, but could not quite prevail against Lemeteyer in the much stronger wind. With a win, three third places and a fourth place, the 33-year-old nevertheless achieved an excellent result today, which she can now tick off - and everything is still open for the remaining days of the competition.
Mortefon and Lemeteyer have dominated the foil slalom so far and it looks like it will be a two-way battle between them as Blanca Alabau, who is in a clear third place, is 10.2 points behind Morton and 10.5 points behind Lemeteyer. Alabau has been extremely consistent in her first nine eliminations, finishing outside the top three only once, but she has failed to land the decisive win to keep herself in contention for the title.
Incredible race to catch up by Pierre Mortefon, everything open in the title race
Pierre Mortefon began the day just outside the top ten - in 11th place - after a neutral start in the lighter winds of day one, but yesterday the Frenchman hit back and moved up nine places. The 35-year-old finished the day level on points with overnight leader Daniele Benedetti with 9.4 points.
Mortefon took two wins in Eliminations 3 and 4 - the second requiring a textbook jibe on the final lane to deny Alexis Mathis his first win - and briefly led by 2.3 points, but Benedetti was able to hit back after the Italian claimed a win in Elimination 5, putting him well on his way to claiming his first World Tour victory. Benedetti is now also the only rider to qualify 100% for the winner's final!
However, his Italian compatriot Matteo Iachino is hot on the heels of the two frontrunners. Iachino, Benedetti and Mortefon are separated by just 1.3 points at the end - so everything is still wide open. Iachino can cross off an eleventh place from yesterday's second elimination after showing an extremely consistent performance today with a second and two fourth places
Michele Becker unfortunately loses some ground - he slipped from 6th to 8th place yesterday. The German has qualified for the top eight and thus the winner's final on four out of five occasions so far. He has continued to show remarkable consistency. However, Becker, who is known for his excellent jibes, messed them up at crucial moments today, which cost him a metre or two.
Brief moment of shock at the beastly exit from the neck barrel
The Belgian Cyril Evrard left the track in a gybe yesterday and hurtled into Sem Stroosma, made a forward exit and landed right in the track of Benoît Merceur. Everyone held their breath for a moment until he reappeared in one piece. Madness. "Foil racing is extreme...", writes Ben Proffitt. Apart from Sem Stroosma's sore leg, who was hit by the Belgian Evrard's bow, everyone involved remained largely unharmed.
Here is the video of the crash:
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Is Slalom-X on the agenda today?
The wind looks strongest for today's race day. It is therefore very possible that the foils will stay in the barn and slalom-X will be on the programme. The skippers' meeting is at 11:00, with the first possible start at 12:00.
