event

SYLT SHINES

All conditions, all elements. Offshore, onshore, side shore. Sun, rain, light breeze, strong gusts: Sylt delivered it all, bringing results across every discipline.

The Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt marked the 41st edition of the world’s biggest and longest-running windsurfing event. It began with light offshore winds and ended in massive waves and strong onshore gusts. Sylt truly saw it all, and thanks to an unplanned competition day on Sunday, every discipline achieved a result.

Foil Slalom

The first six days of the event told a clear story: a light offshore breeze each day meant only one thing: Foil Slalom. With the forecast proving unpredictable, the racers faced several long standby periods, but over six days, they still managed to complete seven eliminations in mostly light-wind conditions.

Top-ranked team rider was Daniele Benedetti, finishing 8th overall. After a slow start, he fought his way back into the top 10 by reaching three out of four winners’ finals. Close behind was Jordy Vonk in 9th place. He showed great speed, winning several qualifying rounds, but also got caught up in a few crashes with other riders. Consistency was missing this time, but confident in his pace, he’s looking to bounce back in Japan.

Sacha Fortune also struggled with consistency but celebrated his first winners’ final appearance in the Foil Slalom discipline, showing strong potential for the future. Meanwhile, Dutch rider Bjarne van der Weg finished 25th in his PWA debut and left Sylt motivated to keep pushing his level higher.

Freestyle

Day seven brought stronger southeast winds, making it difficult to run the freestyle competition close to the beach and therefore challenging for the judges to assess the riders. The crew came up with a creative solution: drone judging!

In head-to-head heats, each rider was followed by a dedicated drone, while the judges scored the action live from the footage. Despite some initial doubts about the new system, it was quickly embraced by the competitors and proved to be a great success. The action might have been distant for spectators on the beach, but it looked spectacular on the livestream.

Niclas Nebelung and Adrien Bosson both saw their events end in the second round. It was an especially tough result for Adrien, who posted a strong heat score but missed the quarterfinals by just one point. With no time left for a double elimination, both riders finished the event in 9th place.

Wave

Last but not least came the wave discipline. With a storm predicted overnight, the skippers’ meeting was set for 7:00 a.m. to make the most of the day. Rain showers rolled through and the conditions constantly changed: from barely enough wind to stay on the board to full-on breeze and solid wave action.

Sylt is famous for its extremely challenging conditions, and this year was no exception. With several heat cancellations and the wind playing games, riders waited on the beach for over 12 hours to get results in. While the men’s fleet advanced all the way to the semifinals, the women’s competition was completed.

Alexia Kiefer Quintana had no trouble getting airborne but struggled with the tricky shorebreak to find clean waves, leaving her just short of the final and in 7th place overall. Maria Behrens, who made her first podium here two years ago, came close again but narrowly missed qualification for the final, finishing in a solid 5th place.

The highest heat score of the first wave day went to Victor Fernandez, who powered his way to the final rounds. On the last Sunday, however, with the wind turning completely offshore, he narrowly missed the podium and finished 4th — still a very strong performance. Elsewhere in the men’s fleet, Liam Dunkerbeck faced tough draws, meeting two of the eventual podium riders already in the quarterfinals. He finished 13th for the event and will be eager to bounce back at the Aloha Classic.