What an ending to the Slalom World Tour! The final PWA Slalom event took place in Japan at Tsukuihama Beach in Yokosuka City. Our Starboard Slalom riders Blanca Alabau and Matteo Iachino claimed the World Title in both the Women’s and Men’s divisions. The Slalom power couple was absolutely unstoppable and they are the new 2023 Slalom World Champions. We could see amazing and close battles throughout the whole event. The World Champion was decided in the last moments of the event. For Blanca, this is a maiden World Title. She had an amazing season with 4 completed PWA Slalom events and all of them she finished on the podium. Matteo claimed his second World Title after many very close occasions since his first World Title in 2016. He came to the last PWA Slalom event in Japan in the leading position and he managed to defend it and claim the World Title. Congratulations!
Matteo about claiming the World Title and what were his first thoughts:
“It’s an amazing feeling. I worked so hard for such a long time. Unbelievable. Something really hard to describe and something really hard for me to understand. I have blurred memories of the moment. The emotions hit really hard. The fight is always close. I have been there so many times and I have won but I also did lose many more times. This helped me with some experience in dealing with pressure. I like to sail consistently and be comfortable with my results throughout the events. I actually pushed a bit too much sometimes this season and this ended up with some mistakes. But I guess there is no way not to make any mistakes. In Japan, I used the Starboard X-15 79 and 89.”
Blanca about her maiden World Title:
“It feels great to be on the top after so many years of training for this moment. I am thrilled and excited. Now it’s time to celebrate our World Titles with Matteo. I am very excited to share this position with him. I am also very grateful to Remi for his help and support in Japan. Before the event, I was pretty relaxed as I was ready for all the conditions. I thought that in Japan we would have more light-wind conditions. I was focused on training in light and gusty conditions. In Pozo and on Fuerteventura I realized that strong wind is my strong side. In the medium wind, I was always fast, so I just had to train for the tricky light-wind conditions. It was definitely worth it. I have been using the Starboard X-15 85 and 79. And I always had ready my Starboard iSONIC 60.”
Photo Credit: PWA Tour / John Carter
