A day of tough competition lies behind the participants of the IFCA Slalom World Championships in Westerland on Sylt. In extreme conditions with wind peaks of up to 30 knots, the third slalom elimination could be completed on the fifth day of the event. There was a change at the top of the preliminary overall standings, which are now lead by Frenchman Basile Jacquin (FRA-498) who won today’s elimination.[more]
Today’s conditions were really tough for the participants. They had to unpack their smallest sails and still had to struggle with their equipment. Several spectacular crashes determined the action. The so far leading Gunnar Asmussen (GER-2) from Flensburg and Vincent Langer (GER-1) from Kiel were also persecuted by bad luck. Asmussen had an over-early in the semi-finals and missed the entry into the A-final. Langer suffered material breakage and thus could not compete in the A-final. Their opponents could benefit from that.
Basile Jacquin triumphed in front of Andrea Rosati (ITA-0) from Italy, who finished second. Third was the Frenchman Pierre Macquaert (FRA-945). The best German starter today was Adrian Beholz (GER-888) from Radolfzell, who was able to achieve a strong 4th place. Fifth was Francesco Scagiola (ITA-353) from Italy.
In the preliminary overall standings of the event, Basile Jacquin took the lead with today’s victory. He was incredibly happy with his performance: “I feel great. I knew that today I would be able to cope well in the difficult conditions. And then I gave everything in the final. That has paid off. I hope I can defend my first place for as long as possible.” Vincent Langer follows in second place overall. After the material breakage in the semi-finals, he was able to confidently win the B finals and thus bring in a ninth place. However, since the worst result can be discarded after three completed eliminations, this placement did not affect the overall standings. Gunnar Asmussen was also able to benefit from his discard. Although he only finished on the 11th place, he now ranks third overall ahead of Frenchman Damien Cervera (FRA-422) and Dutchman Ingmar Daldorf (NED-191).
Also on the sixth day of the event, the forecasts promise great conditions for slalom. Then the fight for the IFCA Slalom World Champion title at the Brandenburger Strand will be in the next round.
