Philip brings back the triple, podiums all around, insane Slalom X action.
It seems as if the 2024 Pozo Gran Canaria World Cup had action from the first minute until the end.
A full womens and mens dingle elimination was completed, and eleven women’s Slalom X, ten men’s Slalom X, and youth/junior eliminations were all squeezed into nine days of nonstop water battles.
Photos by John Carter / PWA.
Wave
It was nothing less than epic to follow the Severne wave crew advance through to each round and watch fireworks unfold heat by heat.
Let’s start with Philip Köster who looked more on form than ever; stomping any moves you can imagine followed by crazy technical riding in the less-than-ideal conditions. His streak came to an end in the semi finals where he narrowly missed out on the finals despite landing super technical rides and a big stalled double. In his quest to showcase that he is the man to beat in Pozo, he went on a rampage in the losers final landing, among other things, a back loop off the lip and the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a triple forward!
Philip ended the contest in third place, beating team buddy Dieter van der Eyken who deserves a huge mention of his own. Scoring his best result ever, Dieter schooled pretty much everybody in the art of wave riding. That put him over the edge in every heat, only to be stopped by Philip.
Lina Erpenstein has shifted gears this year. After her incredible win at the Chile PWA-IWT World Cup, she came to Pozo cool headed, and proceeded to claim her best result in Pozo to date. A very well-deserved second place has turned Lina into your new women’s wave World tour leader. Following very closely behind in fifth place were Pauline Katz and Sol Degrieck, both showing that they meant business. We may very well see both of them in finals in the near future.
As for young Liam Dunkerbeck, the local shred machine didn’t just find one extra gear, but a good stack of them. Liam Dunkerbeck might just be the most improved rider of the year, and he has the stats to back that claim. Performing pretty much every move in the book, the most impressive one, was a super risky one-footed stalled forward that had people cheering on the beach. Putting that cracking performance together, Liam clinched a shared fifth place.
Junior and youth wave
Sol Degrieck clinched the Girls U18 win with a great variety of clinical table tops, table-top forwards, and linking solid turns on each wave.
In the Boys U21 division, Liam Dunkerbeck once again proved he’s the guy to beat. Liam delivered another masterful performance right after his fifth place in the Pro Men. Pulling big double forwards, one-foot back loops, and Wave 360s among other great moves, Liam adds a winners trophy to his collection.
Current Freestyle vice world champion Lennart Neubauer was on a mission of his own. As a result, the young Greek took second place, which was very well deserved. Landing consistent double forwards, back loops, and throwing solid lip hits, Lennart certainly showed he’s a future contender in waves too. In the Mens Pro fleet, Lennart finished at an impressive thirteenth place. It sure looks as if he’s got the hunger for more wave contests in the future.
SLALOM X
The debut of the Slalom X was nothing short of a spectacular show. Finally, the fin got back into action, and the action was insane. Nuking 30-40 knot winds, jumps over obstacles, double gybing marks, you name it, all were introduced at this year’s Gran Canaria World Cup.
Eleven full fleet races in the women’s division and ten eliminations in the men’s division were completed, leaving space for just two discards
A number of over-early eliminations on the first days truly set Matteo Iachino back, but he slowly climbed back through the ranks day by day to finish second overall. All of the elements added to the Slalom X discipline coupled with the nuking winds truly was a test of everyone’s fitness and abilities.
Stomping his foot right into the top of the fleet was young French slalom machine Benoit Merceur who consistently sat in the top five throughout the whole event, and unsurprisingly, he also finished in a solid fifth overall, his best-ever result in a PWA race.
Following in a tenth overall was last year’s Vice World Champion Amado Vrieswijk who started off his event with a good case of Covid that left him without any fighting strength for days on end, battling mainly himself, but overcoming the incredible challenge to finish at a very respectable tenth place overall.
Slalom X Mens top 3
- Pierre Mortefon
- Matteo Iachino
- Maciek Rutkowski
Slalom X Womens top 3
- Sarah-Quita Offringa
- Jenna Gibson
- Marion Mortefon
Wave Womens top 3
- Sarah-Quita Offringa
- Lina Erpenstein
- Alexia Kiefer Quintana
Wave mens top 3
- Marino Gil Gherardi
- Julian Salmon
- Philip Köster
Youth results
Full results:
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