2025 Guadeloupe PWA Tag 3

---

Nach einem ruhigen Auftakt des 2025 Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cups war Tag 3 der Tag, auf den wir alle gewartet haben, als die weltbesten Racer zum ersten Mal in dieser Saison auf den Racecourse losgelassen wurden. Die erste Veranstaltung des Jahres ist immer eine spannende Angelegenheit, da man zum ersten Mal sieht, wo die Teilnehmer nach der Winterpause stehen, und sie enttäuschte nicht mit einer Kombination aus hochkarätigen Rennen, schweren Stürzen und Rennzwischenfällen. Guadeloupe war auch ein harter Allround-Test mit wechselnden Meeresbedingungen und Windstärken (7-20 Knoten), die die Elite auf Trab hielten. Am Ende sind es jedoch die amtierende Weltmeisterin Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) und der Italiener Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails), die nach sechs Eliminations bei den Frauen und drei Eliminations bei den Männern an der Spitze der Rangliste stehen.

Foil Slalom Women’s

Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) may have changed sponsors over the winter, but the result is the same - for now at least - as the reigning world champion produced a dominant display, which saw the 22-year-old secure four bullets out of a possible six, while she finished second in the other two eliminations to complete a solid first day of racing for the 2025 season. Lemeteyer was consistently on point with her starts and clocked some impressive top speeds to show that she will be the one that everyone else has to beat.

Lina Eržen (Starboard / S2Maui / Starboard Foils) is Lemeteyer’s main threat with the 19-year-old able to deny Lemeteyer on two occasions. The Slovenian may be slightly ruing going over early in Elimination 6 as this has given Lemeteyer a bit more breathing room, but Eržen, who has already won an event on the World Tour, showed that she is more than willing to take it to the reigning world champion. At the close of play Eržen trails by 2.6 points, and with hopefully plenty more racing to come, there is everything still to play for.

The top two are well clear of the rest of the fleet after the opening six eliminations, but the battle for the last place on the event podium is far from over with just four points separating third to sixth place. As things stand Blanca Alabau (WeOne / Severne Sails) currently occupies third place, but is just one point ahead of Femke van der Veen (Starboard / Severne Sails), who signed off the day with an excellent second place, while Bobbi-Lynn De Jong is fifth, just ahead of Mae Davico (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) in sixth. Davico started the day brightly with back-to-back third places, but slid down the leader board by the end of the day after three consecutive with places.

Men’s - A Perfect Day

In his own words, Matteo Iachino enjoyed arguably the best start to a season he’s ever had - for an opening day at least - as the Italian reeled off a clinical hat-trick to take a stranglehold over the event rankings. Most sailors have a particular setup that they prefer, so Iachino’s performance is made all the more impressive as he was able to dominate each elimination on three different sail sizes as the wind greatly fluctuated throughout the day. The 35-year-old possesses a wealth of experience and is almost always consistent, but you have to go back to Noumea in 2019 for the last time the two-time world champion completed a three-timer. The ominous thing for his rivals is that he looks like he has a bit extra in the tank when needed, as proved in Elimination 3 when he powered out of the first gybe to pass current world champion Pierre Mortefon (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils). Once at the front of the pack, Iachino never looked like relinquishing the lead and if he can maintain anywhere near the level of form he showed today then he’ll prove almost impossible to stop as he won every single heat that he sailed.

Mortefon, who is Iachino’s closest challenger after the opening three eliminations - currently trailing by 3.9 points - looked on it throughout, but sometimes you just have to accept that someone else is in unstoppable form. The current Foil Slalom and Slalom X world champion finished the day with three second places, but knows he will have to find an extra gear if he is to reel in Iachino. The two heavy weights have enjoyed a superb rivalry throughout their illustrious careers and it’ll be intriguing to see what Mortefon can muster up over the next two days.

Comeback King

Alexandre Cousin (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) flirted with quarterfinal exits in both Elimination 1 and 3, but produced miraculous comebacks in both, to then qualify for each Winners’ Final to deservedly end the day in the top three. The Frenchman first denied fellow countryman Pierre Macquaert (JP / NeilPryde) with a superb last gybe in Heat 3 of Elimination 1, before salvaging an almost unsalvageable position in the opening heat of Elimination 3 as he powered past Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) in the closing stages of the final reach to snatch the last qualifying place - when quite frankly - he had no right to do so.

Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) was a name on the lips of his rivals before the start of the racing and the flying Dutchman showed why today as he to qualified for all three Winners’ Finals to end the day in fourth and is only four points off of third. Vonk recorded results of a fourth, a fifth and a seventh.

It was a day where the top seeds dominated with all of the current top six boasting a 100% qualifying record for the Winners’ Finals. However, for Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Point-7 / Z-Foils) - 5th - and Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde) - 6th - it was a slight case of missed opportunities as neither sailor could really land a telling blow in any of the Winners’ Finals.

Vrieswijk finishes the day with a fifth, a seventh and an eighth, while Rutkowski recorded a sixth and two eighths. So while things may not have really clicked when it came to crunch time today, they do both at least, have solid platforms on which to build upon.

Fellow Frenchman, Alexis Mathis (Tabou / GA Sails) and William Huppert (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils), are currently tied on 23 points - 7th and 8th in the event rankings - with Mathis just ahead on countback. Both sailors qualified for one Winners’ Final a piece, while they both won a b-final each, respectively.

The top ten is currently completed by Benoit Merceur (Starboard / Severne Sails) - 9th - and Sem Stroosma (Tabou / GA Sails) - 10th - who will be delighted to have qualified for his first Winners’ Final in Elimination 1.

The top ten are currently well clear of the rest of the chasing pack, but with a discard to come after the completion of Elimination 4, things can still change very quickly. 19-year-old Sacha Fortune (Duotone Windsurfing) recorded a tenth and a fourteenth either side of a quarterfinal exit, while Scotty Stallman (Tabou / GA Sails / F4 Foils) will also be looking to discard a quarterfinal exit tomorrow. The Brit was able to win the b-final of Elimination 2, so both of them stand to gain substantial ground depending on how Elimination 4 plays out.

Things may not have quite clicked for Lars Poggemann (S2Maui / F4 Foils) in the opening couple of eliminations as the 24-year-old suffered back-to-back quarterfinal exits, but something clicked for the German in the last elimination of the day as he booked his place in a maiden Winners’ Final - eventually finishing in a career best sixth place to finish the day ranked 13th.

The top 16 is currently completed by Cedric Bordes (Severne Windsurfing / PATRIK Foils) - 14th - who will also be looking to discard a quarterfinal exit, Pierre Macquaert - 15th - and Lohan Jules (AV Boards / S2Maui / PATRIK Sails), who recorded two solid twelfth places, but also suffered a quarterfinal exit. Expect plenty of changes after the completion of the next elimination.

Current vice-world champion - Danielle Benedetti (Duotone Windsurfing) - has left himself with plenty of work to do after a disappointing first day. The Italian successfully qualified for the opening Winners’ Final - 7th - but then failed to progress from the quarterfinals in Eliminations 3 and 4 - leaving him in a lowly 22nd place at the close of play.

One of the incidents of the day, which caused plenty of discussion online, involved former teammates Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) and Bruno Martini (I-99 / S2Maui / AL360 Foils). Prien was leading the b-final of Elimination 2, but was seemingly unaware of Martini’s presence as he entered the gybe at the last. Martini sensed the opportunity to dive inside, but in doing so, caught Prien unaware, which ultimately led to them colliding and crashing out as they went from first and second in Heat 7 to eventually finish 14th and 16th respectively for the elimination. Both sailors will be hoping to bounce back tomorrow after a slightly underwhelming first day of racing. Prien is currently ranked 18th, while Martin finds himself in 20th.

The forecast for Friday looks slightly lighter than today with winds of 9-13 knots currently predicted, which should hopefully still allow plenty more racing. The sailors will meet again at 8am (GMT-4) tomorrow morning for the skippers’ meeting with the racing commencing from 9am onwards - conditions depending.

Current Event Ranking 2025 Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cup - Women’s Foil Slalom

*After 6 Eliminations (1 Discard)

1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
2nd Lina Eržen (SLO | Starboard / S2Maui / Starboard Foils)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | WeOne / Severne Sails)
4th Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)

Current Event Ranking 2025 Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cup - Men’s Foil Slalom

*After 3 Eliminations

1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Boards)
3rd Alexandre Cousin (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
4th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
5th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Point-7 / Z-Foils)
6th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
7th Alexis Mathis (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
8th William Huppert (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
9th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails / Starboard Foils)
10th Sem Stroosma (NED | Tabou / GA Sails)