Philip Köster and Iballa Moreno Take Title Race Control After Epic Competition
For the 7th year in a row Tenerife delivered world class conditions to maintain its 100% record of gaining a result. After a slow first few days, El Médano more than made up for that with some of the best conditions we’ve ever seen in Tenerife with winds reaching in excess of 50 knots at times and waves up to mast high providing the ideal playground for windsurfing of the highest performance.
In the men’s division Philip Köster continued his dominant start to the season to collect his second victory of 2017, while Iballa Moreno fought back to deny Sarah-Quita Offringa.
Women’s Wave
Iballa Moreno suffered a shock semifinal exit at the hands of Sarah-Quita Offringa in the single elimination, but the reigning world champion staged a rousing final day comeback to earn her first victory of the season after defeating Offringa twice to deny the Aruban her first port tack wave event win. Success in Tenerife sees Iballa take control of the title race heading into the Autumn season.
Sarah-Quita Offringa may feel that this was a missed opportunity for her as she was only a minute away from winning the event but Iballa produced a brilliant buzzer beater of a wave to deny the 26-year-old. However, after a disappointing 5th to start the season in Pozo, Gran Canaria, the Aruban should be delighted with the way she bounced back to earn second place here, which sees her rise to 3rd in the overall rankings.
During the quarter finals and opening half of her semifinal – Daida Moreno looked to be in the same rich vein of form that saw her win the opening event of the season, but disaster struck for the 18-time world champion midway through her semifinal against Lina Erpenstein when she injured herself jumping, which led to her having to withdraw from the contest. Daida remains second in the overall rankings after still finishing 3rd here, but now faces a race against time to be fit in time for Sylt at the end of September.
Justyna Sniady produced one of the comebacks of the double elimination as she won 4 consecutive heats to rise to 4th place from 9th. Sniady found her rhythm and flow to defeat Lena Erdil, Greta Benvenuti, Nicole Bandini before exacting revenge against Lina Erpenstein for her narrow defeat in Pozo. Erpenstein couldn’t quite defend her top 4 position this time around, but has still made an excellent start to the season with 3rd and 5th place finishes which sees her ranked 4th in overall standings after two events.
Men’s Wave
Philip Köster was quite simply in a league of his own in Tenerife as he obliterated the rest of the competition with an outstanding jumping and wave riding display as he showed again why he is the best port tack wave sailor in the world. Köster’s blend of powerful rail turns and tricks earned him an emphatic victory to make it two wins out of two since his return from injury and the 22-year-old is on course for a 4th world title. If he sustains his current level of form it’s hard to see anyone stopping him.
Reigning world champion – Victor Fernandez – won here last year, but couldn’t find a way to stop a dominant Köster on this occasion. The Spaniard finished 3rd in the single elimination but fought back into the top two after winning two tough battles against Marcilio Browne and Alex Mussolini in the double elimination. Fernandez is still in touch with Köster heading into the second half of the season and could still yet defend his world crown.
Local legend Alex Mussolini excelled at his home spot once again as he earned his 3rd podium finish in 7 years in Tenerife. The Spaniard was in inspired form on day 5, which saw him take home second place in the single with trademark frontside 360s and massive one-handed, one-footed backloops inflicting the damage. Mussolini couldn’t quite defend that position in the double, so he falls one place to 3rd here, but will be absolutely delighted with his performance over the last week which means he rises to 6th in the overalls.
Marcilio Browne produced another valiant come back through the double elimination – just as he did in Pozo – as the Brazilian fought back into 4th place from 9th with victories over Thomas Traversa, Alessio Stillrich and lastly Adam Lewis, which sees him rise into the overall top 3. The Brazilian also racked up the highest scoring wave of the contest – 9.88 points – after landing a sick frontside 3 right in the pocket against Dany Bruch who has to settle for 9th place at his home break.
Adam Lewis came into Tenerife on the back of equaling his best ever result on tour – joint 7th in Pozo – and the Brit continued his fine start to the season, which saw him break into the top 4 for the first time in his life after defeating Browne in the single elimination. However, the 29-year-old couldn’t quite hold off the Brazilian in the double, but he still finishes in a fantastic fifth place and ranked 5th in the overall rankings after the opening two events.
Lewis’s teammate – Alessio Stillrich has been on the radar for quite some time as one of the most promising young wave sailors in the world and this week saw the22-year-old produce a breakthrough performance as he bounced back from a disappointing start to the season in Pozo – 17th – by breaking into the top 6 for the first time. Stillrich ended Marc Paré’s stunning comeback, before producing a last minute double forward to earn a high profile victory against Jaeger Stone to move into the top 6. Stillrich then achieved a higher jumping score than Marcilio Browne with a trademark super tweaked pushloop and a double forward, but couldn’t quite find the wave scores he needed as he bowed out of the competition with his head held high.
Jaeger Stone has to settle for joint 7th place in Tenerife after a narrow loss to Stillrich and the Australian is now ranked joint 8th in the overalls with Dany Bruch. Thomas Traversa also finishes in joint 7th after dispatching of Aleix Sanllehy, Jules Denel and Camille Juban – before Browne ended his hopes. After an excellent start to the season Traversa is ranked 4th overall and in contention for the prestigious podium.
Marc Paré produced a stunning comeback in the double as the Youth World Champion found his best form to win 4 heats on the spin as he ended the hopes of Britain’s John Skye, Belgium’s Dieter van der Eyken, France’s Arthur Arutkin and Germany’s Klaas Voget, with a series of fantastic performances which also saw him land quite possibly the highest jump of the the contest – a monstrous stalled forward against Arutkin. Paré’s storming come back sees the 19-year-old break into the top 10 for the first time in his career and he really looks like a potential world champion in the making in the future – as the new crop of young and talented wave sailors took down many of their older and more experienced peers during this event.
Elsewhere, Ricardo Campello had settle for joint 9th despite being the only sailor in the competition to land a pushloop forward. Camille Juban and Dany Bruch complete the top 10.
Tenerife once again further enhanced it’s reputation as one of Europe’s premier wave sailing destinations and the level of sailing we have seen over the past 7 days is arguably some of the best we have been lucky enough to witness. The young talent of the tour seems to be thriving with many of the aspiring sailors taking down their better known counterparts over the course of the week. After another incredible installment of the Tenerife PWA World Cup we are already looking forward to returning in 2018 – thanks to the organiser and the sponsors for their continued support.
After a busy last 6 weeks of Freestyle, Slalom and Wave contest the PWA World Tour goes into a 3 and a half week hibernation, but then we’ll be returning with more furious slalom in Denmark for the Hvide Sande PWA World Cup – which runs between the 9th-14th September.
Result 2017 Tenerife PWA World Cup – Women’s Wave
1st Iballa Moreno
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa
3rd Daida Moreno
4th Justyna Sniady
5th Lina Erpenstein
Result 2017 Tenerife PWA World Cup – Men’s Wave
1st Philip Köster
2nd Victor Fernández
3rd Alex Mussolini
4th Marcilio Browne
5th Adam Lewis
6th Alessio Stillrich
7th Jaeger Stone
7th Thomas Traversa
9th Marc Paré
9th Ricardo Campello
9th Camille Juban
9th Dany Bruch
