MARIA BEHRENS TAKES FIRST WORLD CUP PODIUM!

Ticking off the event was the Slalom disciplines, as with much of this season, the foil was dominating the competition. Whilst the DUOTONE WARPBOYZ were a little slow out the blocks in Sylt, Pierre Mortefon rounded out the last day in fashion to take a bullet in race 6 and climb into the top 10. As this is the 4^th event of the season for the boys, the discard comes into play which places Pierre Mortefon in 3^rd place heading into the final event in Japan and only 100 points (1 place) behind the joint leaders. Everything is still very much to play for and a victory in Japan could see Pierre taking home the World Title!  

Day 2 of the event and we turned our heads to the Freestyle spectacle. Smashing out the single elimination in perfect side shore conditions – Adrien Bosson sat in 3^rd place, whilst his fellow title contender, Yentel Caers, was knocked out in his first heat. This gave Bosson the commanding position for the World Title heading in to the double elimination, but ultimately it would be a World Title showdown heat between Bosson and Caers for who would take the World Title. Unfortunately, after a phenomenal performance all day long, Caers did enough to just edge over Bosson and took the World Title, whilst unfortunately a 2^nd and a 4^th place for 2023 meant Adrien Bosson finished 3^rd for 2023 – his 4^th time on the World podium in 5 attempts.  

As we progressed straight into the first round of the Men’s wave competition, Marc Pare and Victor Fernandez both flew through their heats, both looking on excellent form. A lot of this performance was due to their unrelenting dedication to get dialled into the spot – hitting the water at any opportunity during the week, even when other disciplines were taking place or when it was insufficient conditions for competition. Both favouring the GRIP 3 SLS for the onshore conditions and the SUPER_HERO SLS, they looked fully in the zone and were disappointed not to have the conditions to go further as the wind died completely after the first round was completed.  

A special mention has to go to Arthur Arutkin, who was unfortunately drawn against Morgan Noireaux who took the highest heat score of the day, whilst Arthur’s score would have won all but one other heat in the draw, scoring higher than both Pare and Fernandez!  

 As the Men’s event finished after the 1^st round, Pare and Fernandez take home =1^st, shared by the top 16, and thus neither of their standings change heading into the final event at the Aloha Classic in Maui. Pare currently sits in 3^rd place and within touching distance of the top 2 so with Maui posing conditions not yet seen on the tour this season, it is for sure to offer up the opportunity to take his maiden World Title!