PWA Torbole Tag 2:

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Das Wetter am zweiten Tag des Torbole PWA World Cups war immer noch kein typischer Frühlingstag am Gardasee, denn am Morgen begrüßte erneut Regen die Teilnehmer. Die gute Nachricht war jedoch, dass es zumindest etwas Wind gab, der den Regen begleitete, so dass das Eröffnungsrennen der Männer sowie die ersten beiden Ausscheidungen durchgeführt werden konnten. Die Rennen blieben schwierig, da der Wind nicht nur die Richtung wechselte, sondern auch in seiner Stärke zwischen 6 und 20 Knoten schwankte, was nicht nur die Segelwahl erschwerte, sondern auch das Timing der Starts extrem schwierig machte, was zu zahlreichen Frühstarts und Disqualifikationen führte. Am Ende des heutigen Tages führen Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils) und Femke van der Veen (AV Boards / Point-7) die aktuelle Rangliste des Events an. Slalom Women’s Femke van der Veen (AV Boards / Point-7) heads up the overnight rankings at the close of day two after recording a bullet and a third in the opening two eliminations. However, that does not really tell the whole story as 7 out of the 11 women were disqualified for premature starts and it required five attempts to eventually gain a result. van der Veen led down the opening straight, but soon relinquished the lead to Mae Davico (Loftsails) after dropping her opening gybe, but was able to recover brilliantly to earn her first bullet on the World Tour and take the event lead. Sarah Jackson (Fanatic / Duotone) is currently van der Veen’s closest challenger with a deficit of 3.3 points. The Brit recorded a third and a fourth place today, whilst Davico currently completes the top three. Vice-world champion - Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL) - made a dream start to the event as she showed plenty of speed to claim a dominant victory in the opening elimination, which was also her first bullet on tour. However, in the next race Lemeteyer, together with Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / Duotone),who finished second in the opener,, were disqualified for premature starts, which resulted in them being awarded joint 9th causing the young French girl to drop from 1st to 4th and currently 6 points off the pace, whilst Gibson is a further place and point behind. Marion Mortefon’s (Fanatic / Duotone / Phantom Foil) title defence didn’t get off to the start she would’ve wanted with the 31-year-old finishing 6th in the opening elimination, before also being disqualified from the second round for a premature start, which leaves Mortefon down in 8th place. There is still plenty of time for Mortefon to recover from those mistakes, but she will now have to rely on discard to get herself back into contention.  Men’s Just as in the second Women’s race, the opening Men’s final took multiple attempts to complete after a number of over earlies, which saw five out of the 8 finalists disqualified from Heat 13. That left just Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde), Michele Becker (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils) and Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils) standing. Prien took the early lead, but Cousin who had look blisteringly quick all day would eventually reel in the German and take the opening bullet of the week to lead the men’s ranking at the end of day two. Becker, who is competing in his first full year on tour will be delighted with his start to the event after pipping Prien to second place, leaving the German to complete the top three. Reigning world champion - Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) - has to settle for joint fourth in the opening elimination alongside Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails), Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails) and seventeen-year-old - Will McMillan (Starboard / Challenger Sails / Phantom Foils), who qualified for his first winners’ final in only his second event. Meanwhile, Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) completes the top 8. Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde), who won the last event of 2022 in Japan, missed out on a place in the opening winners’ final, but would still secure on a place in the top 10 after winning the b-final to secure 9th place ahead of Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Phantom Foils).
The top 16 is currently completed by Ingmar Daldorf (Tabou / GA Sails), Benoit Merceur (Severne Sails), Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone), Ennio dal Pont (Fanatic / Duotone), Johan Soe (FMX Racing / Point-7) and William Huppert (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils). With the wind slowly declining after midday the sailors were eventually released at 3pm for the day. The forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look anything special on paper, but it is expected that the morning North wind will give the best chance of racing again, whilst the afternoon does also hold some promise that the Ora will kick in in the afternoon. The sailors will meet again at 7am on Friday morning with the action commencing from 7:45am (GMT+2) onwards. You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Italy— including live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page. Current Ranking 2023 Torbole PWA World Cup - Women’s Slalom
*After 2 Eliminations 1st Femke van der Veen (NED | AV Boards / Point-7)
2nd Sarah Jackson (GBR | Fanatic / Duotone)
3rd Mae Davico (FRA | Loftsails)
4th Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui / LokeFoil) Current Ranking 2023 Torbole PWA World Cup - Men’s Slalom
*After 1 Elimination 1st Alexandre Cousin (FRA | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils / Chopper Fins)
2nd Michele Becker (GER | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils)
3rd Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Will McMillan (THA | Starboard / Challenger Sails / Patrik Foils)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
4th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
8th Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Enrico Marotti (CRO | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / Phantom Foils)