VICTORY
After more than a year out of action, the Severne team claimed a double victory at the 2021 EFPT Austria event with Amado Vrieswijk taking the win in the freestyle discipline and Lennart Neubauer claiming first place in the tow-in discipline. Lennart also finished 6th in the freestyle discipline.
Kiri Thode took second place in the tow-in discipline, as well as, 9th place in the freestyle double elimination. Also finishing 9th was German Severne rider Felix Volkhardt.
Photos; Axel Lang/EFPT
Amado wins Freestyle double elimination
Starting on the same note as he finished off with last time there was an EFPT event, Amado stormed through the freestyle single elimination on the last day of competition as the wind filled in enough to compete. He then had to wait for the rest of the day for the double elimination to take place. The double elimination final happened in super light winds stacking the odds against Amado who despite the super light winds managed to take the win in a super final against Italian rider Jacopo Testa.
Amado recalls the day: “It feels really good to be back competing on the freestyle gear after a year and a half break. After long days of waiting Sunday, the wind finally filled in. The conditions were still up and down with strong gusts in one heat and lighter winds in the next making it definitely challenging conditions to compete. However, I felt confident and the more heats I did the better I got back in the competition rhythm. At the end of the double elimination, it came down to the last minute of the competition to claim the win in some of the lightest winds I have sailed/competed in a long time. To start where I left off feels great and shows that the work from the last year has paid off. Now I hope this is the full restart of the competition season and that we can fully show our level in the next events.“
Lennart Neubauer wins Tow-in and finishes 6th in freestyle double elimination
Lennart was one of the most noteworthy sailors of the event. Despite his young age of only 17, Lennart clearly meant business after more than a year of just training and waiting to get back into action.
Lennart says: “Winning the tow-in on Saturday was absolutely amazing after a close final. I managed to secure the highest scoring move after the second round which allowed me really to wait till the end to see everyone’s scores and claim the win on the final move.”
The day after, the disciplines were switched and it was now time to focus on freestyle single and double eliminations: “After that, we got good wind on Sunday to finish both a Single and a double elimination which allowed me to climb up back to 6th place which is my best result to date on the EFPT. I was very close to get even further after a super close heat against Giovanni Passani but with the win in the tow-in this will be an event to remember for a long time! Now I’m looking forward to the next events and I’m even more motivated to build on this result in these events.”
Newcomer Felix Volkhardt
With only a few international events under his belt, German Severne rider Felix Volkhardt had the best event of his career so far finishing 9th overall.
“I was really looking forward to the first EFPT event happening again after 1 1/2 years of no events. I felt ready for the event since I had some good training in the winter and couldn’t wait to sail my first heats again!” says Felix who initially was kicked out of the single elimination in the early rounds but fought his way back during the double elimination.
“Really happy about that and can’t wait for the next events to take part! My plan for the upcoming season is to make it to all of the EFPT events and push as hard as possible to keep my place in the Top 10 or even improve on that” a satisfied Felix states.
Dieter Van der Eyken out with injury
After a big crash during the tow-in warmup session, Dieter was force to retire and had this to say: “The EFPT in Austria didn’t go as planned for me, after making it to the 2nd round in the freestyle single elimination and qualifier for the tow-in final I made a bad crash during the tow-in warm up on Saturday landing on my left knee and was forced to pull out of the contest. I felt quite good before the crash and despite this setback, I’m already looking forward to getting back fit and to get the competition season started. It was an amazing event, with amazing results from the team and a new start in the new normal! Contest season is OPEN!“
Stay up to date
You can follow the latest from the EFPT scene by visiting their website efpt.net. The next event on the calendar will take place in Vieste, Italy from June 2nd to June 5th.
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