On the second day of the PWA World Cup in Fuerteventura, the men's freestyle single elimination was completed in 20-30 knots of wind, with the wind fluctuating a little depending on the cloud cover. Overall the conditions were probably easier than yesterday, with slightly smoother water in the morning before a small swell built up in the afternoon, giving the riders some nice stunt ramps on the inside. 20-year-old Lennart Neubauer particularly stood out and dominated until the crucial minutes of the day.
Bosson delivers at the decisive moment
Adrien Bosson saved his best performance until the very end today, when he put down his highest-scoring heat of the single elimination in the final against Lennart Neubauer. In the final seconds, the 2022 Freestyle World Champion managed a decisive culo, which was just enough to win the heat by just 0.7 points. Bosson was far behind at the start of the heat. He started his comeback with a beautiful Bongka 720, which was cheered on the beach, before following it up with a burner into burner and a no-handed burner. Bosson also won the single elimination last year, but was unable to defend first place in the second round. He will therefore be even more determined to retain first place in the double elimination this year.
Until the final, Neubauer was the clear favourite today. The reigning runner-up cracked the 40-point mark today in his round of 16 run and also in the semi-final. In fact, the 20-year-old is the only driver to have broken this mark, but narrowly failed to do so in the final. Neubauer has surfed extremely impressively and consistently since the first round - he hardly made a mistake. He seemed a little down after the final, but can now fully concentrate on a comeback in the double elimination.
Exciting comebacks expected, Sam Esteve secures his best Fuerte result to date
Reigning world champion Yentel Caers is another rider planning his comeback in the double. The Belgian went head-to-head with Neubauer in the semi-finals, which he ultimately lost by a narrow margin, but he was able to put this disappointment behind him and beat his team-mate Sam Esteve in the battle for third and fourth place.
Sam Esteve deservedly secured his place in the semi-finals with impressive victories against Steven Van Broeckhoven and Jacopo Testa, but then couldn't quite keep up this form in Heat against Bosson. Nevertheless, the Frenchman is assured of his best result to date on Fuerteventura, as the best he can do is finish fifth, while he can still attempt a comeback in the double elimination.
Jacopo Testa had his chances against Esteve beforehand, but missed out on victory by 0.9 points as the Italian crashed too often, something he is not normally known for. Testa shares fifth place in the single elimination with Balz Müller, Antony Ruenes and Youp Schmit.
The top ten of the single elimination is currently completed by: Steven Van Broeckhoven, Niclas Nebelung, the Japanese duo Takumi Moriya and Takuma Sugi , the Frenchmen Nicolas Akgazciyan and Nil Bacon and the New Caledonian Antoine Albert.
Double elimination already started
After the completion of the single elimination, the first five heats of the double elimination could already be sailed this afternoon before the wind became too weak and unstable to continue the second round.
The forecast for Saturday looks like the Sotavento wind machine will continue to deliver, but it could be a little weaker than the first two days. The freestyle fleets will meet tomorrow at 11am for the skippers' meeting, while the action starts from 11.30am - depending on the conditions. Here go to the livestream: pwaworldtour.com
