Lots of excitement, lots of drama, lots of emotion: Thursday at the schauinsland-reisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt presented by got2be showed once again how exciting windsurfing can be. Michele Becker in particular took centre stage. After his victory in the opening elimination on Saturday, the Kiel native had a bit of bad luck in the meantime, but today he came back strong and ended up with two second places and an eleventh place.
The conditions off Westerland were once again challenging today: gusty winds that changed with every passing cloud, lots of chop and a solid swell that required good timing and tactics.
The favourites failed one after the other: World champion Maciek Rutkowski was initially lucky that his heat was cancelled, but was then eliminated in the first round of the repechage. A disaster for the Pole, who apart from one win here on Sylt on Saturday has so far been running behind his form. After finishing sixth and fourth, he still made it to the grand final. Mateus Isaac, the leader of the event so far, has also had a lot of bad luck. He was once wiped out by Enrico Marotti in the semi-final, but won the small final twice.
Eliminations five, six and seven today added a second stringer, which really shook up the ranking. Amado Vrieswijk has now taken the lead, using his two poor results as strings and leading with another win today. "I just tried to ride consistently. I had bad timing in the first final," Vrieswijk alluded to a slip-up in which he touched the buoy in the first gybe after a mega start and caused chaos at the buoy with his fall. Behind the giant from Bonaire is Matteo Iachino, who may not have won today, but is always at the front with two third places.
Michele Becker delivers thrilling duels for victory
Michele Becker has also established himself in the leading group. Livestream commentator Ben Proffitt would even have put money on the Kiel native, as he revealed. In the first final of the day, Becker fought a thrilling duel with foil specialist Nicolas Goyard: after an outstanding start, the two were separated by just a few metres over the entire course. Goyard was faster on the straights, Becker rode the better jibes - but was unable to overtake the Frenchman. "I'll get him next time!" Michele announced with a laugh, more than satisfied with second place.
In the second elimination, however, his main opponent was Pierre Mortefon. Michele Becker again fought a gripping German-French duel with tight jibes and a thrilling finish. "I was waiting for a small mistake, in the second gybe I had the opportunity to get past, but I didn't want to risk it," reported Michele afterwards. Winner Mortefon also realised that the race was extremely close: "It was a clean fight, very fair!". Becker is now sixth in the overall standings.
Nothing was safe on the North Sea
Because today on the North Sea, "nothing is certain"! Time and again, even the top riders were on the verge of a major crash when they had to cross the swell lines or misjudged the swell at the buoy. Amado Vrieswijk, the big winner of the day, also got into a turmoil shortly before the finish line - even small things made the difference today.
Sebastian Kördel reached ninth place in the first elimination, but was eliminated in the first round of the second and third heat. Nico Prien didn't have the best day either, finishing in the first heat, as did Lars Poggemann and Malte Reuscher.
Meanwhile, the waveriders' hopes are pinned on tomorrow, Friday. Up to 30 knots from the south-south-west are forecast for the afternoon in particular and could provide perfect conditions. World Championship leader Ricardo Campello, who has often come a long way on Sylt, is particularly hoping for this. His rival Marcilio Browne, on the other hand, is handicapped: he injured his neck while free sailing in the waves and has even been to Kiel for treatment in the meantime. In the women's event, Lina Erpenstein is hoping to build on her third place last year. As always, Sylt is good for plenty of surprises!
Intermediate standings Slalom World Cup Sylt 2023
- 1st Amado Vrieswijk
- 2 Matteo Iachino
- 3 Nicolas Goyard
- 4th Johan Soe
- 5th Mateus Isaac
- 6 Michele Becker
- 7 Bruno Martini
- 8th Maciek Rutkowski
- 9 Pierre Mortefon
- 10 Enrico Marotti
- 14 Nico Prien
- 15 Sebastian Kördel
- 20 Malte Reuscher
- 29 Lars Poggemann
