9 Podiums in Pozo

SLALOM-X

Exhilarating, exciting, explosive! Slalom-X truly lived up to the hype and in the office, we couldn’t take our eyes off the livestream! Jenna Gibson was flying out of the blocks, perhaps a little too fast with an OCS in round 1, but by the end of the opening day she was in 3^rd position and her straight line speed was frightening! Reaching the first mark in first place was a common occurrence and despite a few crashes in the tricky conditions, she finished 7/11 races in the top 3 to take 2^nd place overall. This is a fantastic result for Jenna and so well deserved. We are incredibly proud of her for taking her maiden PWA podium.

Jenna was using the WARP_FIN 5.0 and FALCON_FIN D/LAB 99 for the whole event.

In the men’s, Jordy Vonk was one of the favourites coming into the event as the only male rider to win an elimination on the fin in 2023. Unfortunately, however, as soon as he arrived in Gran Canaria, he got really sick, hampering his training and making him bed bound for the first 4 days of the competition. His resilience and determination shone through however and he scored 2^nd place in the opening elimination, after which he crawled up the beach in exhaustion! He battled through the opening days, with a mix of results, and despite turning up the heat on the last 2 days with 2 / 4 bullets, he ultimately finished 3 points off the podium in 4^thplace. We can’t wait to see him fighting fit once again in Fuerteventura in a few weeks.

Jordy was using the WARP_FIN 5.8 & 6.8 and the FALCON_FIN D/LAB 99.

WAVE

It was only a matter of time before Alexia Kiefer Quintana got her first podium in Pozo after dominating the Junior contest for the last 5 years. From her first heat, it was clear Alexia meant business, winning her opening round by 5.38 points! Her 6.88 point Backloop in the semi-final wowed the judged and earned her the highest jump score of the contest, but she couldn’t find a backup wave or jump score to edge her into the final. In the 3^rd place sail off, she also took the highest wave score of the contest with a 6.62 – linking together aggressive backside and front side hits, and ultimately awarding her 3^rd place overall in the contest. After her 2^nd place finish in Chile, she now sits 3^rd overall in the World Rankings, despite only counting 2 out of 3 results!

Alexia was riding mainly the 3.0 Super_Hero and GRIP 4 SLS 69.

Lisa Wermeister also got her best result ever in Gran Canaria, finishing 8^th and really showing her improved jumping game this year. An unfortunate opening round exit for Maria Behrens left her outside of the top 8 cutoff and only able to fight back to 12^th place.

Carlos Kiefer Quintana was one of our Young Blood riders who made his pro debut in Gran Canaria and he put on a magnificent display in the opening round, taking the highest heat score of the round with a 24.37! With only 2 other riders scoring in the 20s, the hometown boy came out swinging! Unfortunately the conditions didn’t quite go his way in the 2^nd round, and he struggled to find the waves or ramps he needed to advance, but it was still a huge performance to make it out of the opening round at only 17 years old.

Carlos rides the GRIP 4 SLS 69 and Super_Hero 3.0 & 3.4

Leon was riding the GRIP 4 D/LAB 76 and Super_Hero 3.0 & 3.4

Victor Fernandez, 22 years on from his Pozo debut, showed he is still very much in contention here in Pozo, advancing easily through round 2, but with the new cutoff format at round 3, an exist here meant there was no chance to fight back and advance further than 9^thin the competition. His heats in the double elimination however showed why he is always such a strong contender in Gran Canaria, as he now takes his total to over 20 top 10 finishes here.

Victor rides the GRIP 4 D/LAB and Super_Hero SLS sails.

YOUTH WAVE

The Young Blood programme shone once again this year in Gran Canaria – proving to be the industry leading junior development programme with 3 out of 6 division wins and 7 podium finishes for the team.

Despite a shaky start for Alexia Kiefer Quintana in the U21 Girls with a 2^nd in the opening round, she took her form from the Pros into the U21s and ultimately took 2 out of 3 wins to take victory. Lisa Wermeister took 3^rdplace in this incredibly strong U21 category.

11 year old Trine Gobisch was pushed to compete in the U18 girls due to a lack of participants in her own age group and yet still managed to take 3^rd place in this division! The young German showed huge potential in her jumping and riding and is definitely one to watch out for in the future.

Trine rides the GRIP XS 60 and the NOW 2.4.

Her twin brother, Anton, also put on a great performance in the U13 Boys to take 3^rd but it was the talented young waterman from Tarifa, Elias Antolin, who won this division and was super stoked with his performance on his PWA Junior debut.

Anton and Elias both ride the Grip XS 60 and NOW 2.4 - our dedicated kids wave setup!

The U18 Boys saw a final battle between Leon Maethner and Carlos Kiefer Quintana. Whilst Leon spent the winter riding waves in Maui, Carlos was honing his jumping skills at home and ultimately this was what gave Carlos victory in this category, however Leon also put on a great performance and showed his versatility across the conditions.

Tobias Bjornaa suffered a back injury in the lead up to the event, so was unable to defend his podium position from last year, finishing 5^th in the U21 Boys, whilst Marlon Maethner finished 7^th.

Overall it was a huge performance from the whole team and we are incredibly proud of all of them for their performances this week!

Next stop for the Slalom and Freestylers is Fuerteventura in 2 weeks, whilst the wave tour ventures to Tenerife and Peru at the start of August for 4* events.