2024 World Cup Sylt .

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Sylt ist bekannt für seine Vielseitigkeit, und auch wenn es nicht ganz so konstant windig war wie bei den letzten Veranstaltungen, bot das diesjährige 40-jährige Jubiläum doch einige extrem herausfordernde Bedingungen, die die besten Surfer der Welt auf Herz und Nieren prüften. Die Wave Fleet hatte mit fast durchgängig auflandigen Winden und Sylts berüchtigtem Shorebreak zu kämpfen, der mehr als genug Opfer forderte, während ein Zustrom von Algen bedeutete, dass die Racer eine zusätzliche, unerwartete Variable zu berücksichtigen hatten.

Wave

Women’s

After winning the 40th anniversary Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) has hauled herself right back into world title contention. The Aruban won the Gran Canaria Gloria PWA World Cup in July, but then only finished her fourth in Tenerife, which was only a 4-star event, so is worth less ranking points. Victory here means that the reigning world champion now has fate in her own hands heading into the title decider in Maui in just under a couple of weeks time.

Meanwhile, young guns Alexia Kiefer Quintana (Duotone Windsurfing) and Sol Degrieck (Severne / Severne Sails) continue to shine with both of them claiming podium finishes again here. In fact, from the four events that Kiefer Quintana has competed at she is yet to finish outside of the podium positions. The 19-year-old claimed second place here, while Degrieck completes the podium, but it’s worth noting she only missed out on a place in the winners’ final by just 0.16 of a point.

Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails) came into Sylt with a narrow lead at the top of the rankings and while she may be slightly disappointed with a fourth place finish here, the German will still head into Maui firmly in contention for a maiden world title.

Men’s

Marc Paré’s (Simmer / Simmer Sails) remarkable comeback story continues after the Spaniard produced a superb display in the extremely tough conditions to claim back-to-back victories on the World Tour - having also won in Tenerife in August also. Having suffered a Lisfranc fracture in March, Paré may have thought his season was over, but it turns out it’s far from over now after winning here. It would still be a big ask for him to challenge for the world title given that Tenerife was only a 4-star event, but it’s not out of the question if everything went his way, while he can certainly fight for a place on the prestigious overall podium too.

Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) ended up sailing about nine heats effectively in the single elimination and began to cramp up during the winners’ final as fatigue started to take its effect, but second place still represents a great result - especially given the unpredictable nature of the conditions in Sylt. The Brazilian, who is the reigning world champion, will head into Maui with the world title race lead as he goes in search of completing a historic hat-trick of world crowns have also won in 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, Victor Fernandez’s (Duotone Windsurfing) fine season continues with the former 3-time world champion bagging himself another podium here. The Spaniard excels in making tricky conditions look comparatively easy and used every trick in his arsenal to complete the podium in Sylt, which will see him head into Maui as Browne’s closest rival.

Elsewhere, Antoine Martin (Starboard / North Sails) recorded his best result of the season at a 5-star event so far - 4th - while Miguel Chapuis earned his best result to date in a single elimination after securing joint fifth alongside; Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde), Philip Köster (Severne / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins) and Marino Gil (JP / NeilPryde).

Foil Slalom

Women’s

Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui) finishes the 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt with a perfect record of just 7 points from the 13 eliminations completed. The current World Tour leader was in a league of her own over the last ten days as she won eleven out of the thirteen eliminations completed. After winning both events so far this season, Lemeteyer will head into the world title decider in Japan in November with a two hundred point lead over Marion Mortefon (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils).

Mortefon finishes Sylt in a clear second place and she managed to sign off the event in perfect fashion as she secured a hard fought win in Elimination 13 - doing extremely well to hold off Lemeteyer after making a brilliant start.

Meanwhile, reigning world champion - Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails) - follows up her third place in Fuerteventura with another podium here. The Spaniard raced consistently all week, only finishing outside the top three once.

14-year-old Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) also sailed extremely consistently and managed to pip Femke van der Veen (Starboard / Severne Sails) to fourth place with just two points separating them both.

Men’s

With just one more elimination being sailed on the final day, Johan Søe (FMX Racing / Point-7 / PATRIK Foils) didn’t even need to race today to claim his maiden event victory on the World Tour given the margin of his lead and the second discard coming into play after the completion of Elimination 7. However, the young Dane did still compete and he signed off the event with a solid third place, which means the 21-year-old hasn’t finished outside the top three for the entire event. After being stripped of a maiden world title last year, claiming his first event win will feel all the sweeter and no one can argue with the nature of the victory.

Pierre Mortefon (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) came into the event ranked second in the overall world rankings, but leaves with the World Tour lead heading into the decider in Japan after sailing remarkably consistently here to claim second place. The Frenchman didn’t finish outside of the top five once in seven races and will now look to claim his second world title of the season in Japan - having won the Slalom X earlier in the season.

After finishing sixteenth in Elimination 6 it looked as though Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) might have blown his shot at securing a maiden 5-star podium on the World Tour. However, with the second discard coming into play the Italian was able to do just enough in Elimination 7 - sixth - to claim the last place on the podium as he edged out Daniele Benedetti (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) by two points.

Benedetti backs up his win in Fuerteventura with a solid fourth place here. The 29-year-old finished tied on 20.7 points with Nicolas Goyard (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils), but crucially Benedetti came out on top on countback, which could yet prove pivotal in the world title race as just 100 points separate him and Mortefon, whereas it could have just as easily been 200 points instead. It’s likely that whoever beats who will win the world title as Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde) is the next closest sailor, but he trails Mortefon by 500 points.

Meanwhile, Marotti did well to recover from a quarterfinal exit in the opening elimination to eventually finish sixth here. After a poor start Marotti bounced back by not finishing outside of the top 9 once, while he signed off the event with an excellent bullet today, which saw him pip Maciek Rutkowski (NeilPryde) to sixth place by just 0.3 of a point.

The top ten is completed by Rutkowski (NeilPryde), Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails), Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) and Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) - 7th-10th.

Freestyle

With it unfortunately not being possible to complete the Men’s Freestyle single elimination that means the top four finishes as it stood coming into Sylt. That means Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) earns his maiden world title and I don’t think there will be too many arguments about that given the fact that he’s won the last two events on the World Tour. The young Greek was also pushing to compete here in marginal winds, which is quite remarkable when you consider that he had nothing to gain, but everything to lose.

Meanwhile, Adrien Bosson (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins) finishes the season as the vice-world champion for the third time in his career. Last year’s world champion, Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) completes the prestigious overall podium, while Balz Müller (Severne / Severne Sails) walks away with a career best, fourth.

Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Women’s Foil Slalom *After 13 Eliminations (3 Discards)

1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui)
2nd Marion Mortefon (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails)
4th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)
5th Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Foil Slalom *After 7 Eliminations (2 Discards)

1st Johan Søe (DEN | FMX Racing / Point-7 / PATRIK Foils)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
3rd Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
5th Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
6th Enrico Marotti (CRO | JP / NeilPryde)
7th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | NeilPryde)
8th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
9th Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
10th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)

Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Women’s Wave

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Alexia Kiefer Quintana (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
3rd Sol Degrieck (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)
4th Lina Erpenstein (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Maria Behrens (GER | Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Justyna Sniady (POL | North Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Maria Morales (ESP | Goya Windsurfing)
5th Coraline Foveau (FRA | Flikka / GUNSAILS)
Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Wave

1st Marc Paré (ESP | Simmer / Simmer Sails)
2nd Marcilio Browne (BRA | Goya Windsurfing)
3rd Victor Fernandez (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
4th Antoine Martin (FRA | Starboard / North Windsurfing)
5th Robby Swift (UK | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Philip Köster (GER | Severne / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins)
5th Marino Gil {ESP (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Miguel Chapuis (ESP | Flikka / North Windsurfing)
9th Thomas Traversa (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Dieter Van der Eyken (BEL | Severne Windsurfing / Black Project Fins)
9th Henri Kolberg (GER | Naish / Naish Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Liam Dunkerbeck (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Titouan Flechet (FRA | Tabou / Hot Sails Maui)
9th Jules Denel (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Morgan Noireaux (HI | JP / NeilPryde / Black Project Fins)

Overall Ranking 2024 PWA World Tour - Men’s Freestyle

1st Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)