PWA Cold Hawaii World Cup - Shocking upset on Klitmøller super Sunday

by Matthew Pryor on 23 Sep 2013 In the biggest upset in windsurfing since Philip Köster was beaten in the Cold Hawaii final last year, Marcilio 'Brawzinho' Browne, from Brazil, beat Köster in the final of the 2013 PWA Cold Hawaii world cup in Klitmøller on Sunday.

Browne, in his first wave world cup final, defeated Köster, the 2011 and 2012 world champion, by less than a point, 26.38 points to 25.75. Browne won it with a late comeback and there was high drama at the finish with his spectacular double forward loop near the end of the 15-minute heat getting held up in the live scoring system. It looked like the 19-year-old prodigy Köster, who won here in 2011 and for whom this was only a second world cup defeat since 2010, had won again and Browne, 24, only found out he had won when it was announced on the podium.

'I can’t believe it, I really can’t understand it,' a visibly stunned Browne said. 'Philip is a machine, I have so much respect for Philip. For me to win here I absolutely unbelievable, he’s been dominating the sport. Lucky me. I just tried to squeeze every point out. I was really struggling but I then I thought he might be too, because it was onshore and difficult, so I knew I just to get some jumps and points up.'

Köster, the German rider who grew up in Gran Canaria, had dominated the final early, with a trademark towering double forward loop. But with the wind shifting from side-onshore to more onshore it became trickier in the final stages of the competition and Köster, who was beaten in the final by Thomas Traversa in similar conditions last year, was clearly under pressure. He looked a little stunned on the podium too.

'I’m happy to be in second place, but I wanted to win the heat, so I’m not the happiest person at the moment,' he said. 'But it’s great to be on the podium and it great to be in Klitmøller.'

Köster, who won the second round of the world cup in Tenerife in August, after his home world cup in Pozo, Gran Canaria was cancelled due to a lack of wind, will have a quick chance for revenge in Sylt, from September 27 to October 6.

It was a day of upsets with Browne beating Víctor Fernández López, the Spanish world no.2, in the quarter-final, deposing Traversa, from France in the semi-final and shocking Köster, the crowd and himself in the final.

Spain’s Alex Mussolini beat Traversa in the ‘losers’ final’ to finish third. PWA World Cold Hawaii World Cup