Incredible! Although the forecasts were not positive at all, for the IFCA Slalom World Championships we have been able to get spectacular windsurfing competition every day so far. Today we saw another Slalom for the men's fleet and even two for the women. Dan Ellis (GBR 52, Fanatic, Naish Sails) was the man of the day and won the final while Valerie Ghibaudo (FRA 444, Tabou, Loft Sails) showed weaknesses for the first time and had to accept a second place in one slalom.
In the men's fleet the tension was almost touchable before the final of elimination 5. With Florent Renard (FRA 5, JP, Neil Pryde), Hubert Mokrzyki (POL 25, Tabou, Gaastra) and Alberto Menegatti (ITA 456, F2, North Sails) three of the favorites eliminated themselves already by starting over early. This opened the door for Bora Kozanoglu (TUR 11, Starboard, Neil Pryde), Dan Ellis, Michal Polanowski (POL 16, Starboard, Neil Pryde) and Andrea Cucchi (ITA 1, Starboard, POINT 7). All of them had realistic chances for a place on the podium or even the World Championship title itself.
Dan Ellis had a killer start and led the fleet to the first mark. With excellent speed and safe jibes he ensured his victory in the fifth elimination. In second place followed Andrea Cuchi. The Italian Slalom Champion was able to score his best result in the competition so far. Bora Kozanoglu, the Turkish Slalom Champion scored an excellent third place in front of Nikolaj Kruppa (DEN 4, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from Denmark and Tom Nagy (FRA 30, Naish, Naish Sails) from France.
In the women' s fleet two races were run. Valerie Ghibaudo, the dominating leader of the World Championships won one of them but in the final race she was beaten for the first time. None the less she sits comfortably in first place with 6,3 points. Verena Fauster (ITA 31, F2, Gaastra) proudly took the victory and confirmed her second place in the regatta with a total of 25,7 points. Marion Raisi (FRA 213, Exocet, Gaastra) defends the third place with 39,2 points. The local youngster Fanny Aubet (FRA 808, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) scored a third place in the last race today and is currently fourth. Agnieszka Pietrasik (POL 19, Starboard, Naish Sails) presented a strong performance today with a second and a fourth place and completes the top 5 in the results.
Before the final day the situation couldn¹t be more thrilling: Two riders are fighting with even points for the World Championship title. Due to his bullet in today's slalom Dan Ellis moved up and has now 6,7 points just as the Turkish slalom champion Bora Kozanoglu. To solve the tie the discards are taken into account and there the British slalom expert wins against Kozanoglu with a seventh place against a ninth. Yesterday's leader Hubert Mokrzyk could only follow the final from the beach as he was disqualified for being over early. Nonetheless he defends the third place with a total of 11,0 points. The Italian Slalom Champion Andrea Cucchi is only one point behind with 12,0 points. Another Italian completes the top 5: Alberto Menegatti accumulates 15,7 points.
Everything is open before the final day! We are halfway through the 6th slalom elimination and have the qualification rounds completed. We only need to run the two semi finals to make this slalom valid and another two heats to complete it. This is easily possible!
