Gollito, an ultimate competitor after conquering Sylt's stormy seas

by World Sailing on 5 Oct 2017 The majority of the usual suspects navigated their way into the latter stages of the elimination with three of the top four sailors from Fuerte claiming the podium positions in the single elimination - Gollito Estredo, Amado Vrieswijk and Jacopo Testa.

Day five of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Super Grand Slam saw the mettle of the freestyler sailors tested to the limit as they competed in some of the toughest freestyle conditions seen for many seasons.

With bolt onshore wind, walls of whitewater everywhere and a strong side shore rip which was more like a river, many sailors struggled to even make it out for their heats, but the majority of the usual suspects still navigated their way into the latter stages of the elimination with three of the top four sailors from Fuerte claiming the podium positions in the single elimination - Gollito Estredo, Amado Vrieswijk and Jacopo Testa.

Freestyle - Single Elimination

Seven-time PWA Freestyle World Champion - Jose 'Gollito' Estredo - came into the final freestyle event of the year leading the rankings and the Venezuelan edged ever closer to an eighth world title after claiming a hard fought victory against Amado Vrieswijk.

Gollito showed himself to be the ultimate competitor again today as he produced his highest scoring heat in the final to earn 128.3 points with an air kabikuchi and a stunning shifty being his standout manoeuvres.

With a rain squall causing the wind to pick up in the final Vrieswijk was overpowered on his 4.8m and couldn't quite replicate the outstanding performance he produced in the semifinal against Antoine Albert in which he recorded the highest scoring heat of the day 136 points as he landed a trademark double air culo.

The Bonairean had generally looked in dominant form today, but he did face a major scare against Tonky Frans with Frans producing a jumping masterclass and in the end, Vrieswijk just scraped through by just 0.7 of a point from Heat 18b.

Jacopo Testa built upon his result from Fuerte where he finished fourth - his best result yet on the world tour- by securing the final place on the podium - showing that he is developing into one of the most dangerous freestyle sailors on the planet no matter the conditions.

The Italian made the conditions today look relatively easy, where others struggled so badly and he'll now aim to defend his place on the podium, which would also see him break into overall top three for the first time in his career.

Antoine Albert may have just missed out in the battle for third but the New Caledonian will still be delighted with his efforts today after breaking into the top four for the first time in his career with an inspired display, which means he is guaranteed his best result ever on the world tour as he can now finish in fifth place at worse.

The 23-year-old caused an upset as he took down current world No. three Yentel Caers in the third round before also dispatching of Balz Müller to move into the semifinals.

Elsewhere in the single elimination France's Sam Esteve and Italy's Mattia Fabrizi both advanced into the top five for the first time in their careers.

Esteve faced former world champion Kiri Thode in the second round, but with the Bonairean failing to make it out the 19-year-old advanced before claiming the scalp of Philip Soltysiak, but he couldn't find a way past Vrieswijk in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Fabrizi first dispatched of Loick Spicher before causing one of the biggest upsets of the day as he defeated Steven Van Broeckhoven, but unfortunately the 25-year-old then snapped his mast in the opening minutes of his quarterfinal against Gollito to end his chances of causing any further upsets.

Also finishing in joint fifth for the single are Balz Müller and Adrien Bosson.

After a short break, the double elimination resumed and things looked a little easier from the beach with the angle slightly improving and the wind increasing.

Thomas Traversa defeated Tony Mõttus in the single elimination before being a little unlucky to meet Gollito in Heat 16b - especially as he'd have easily progressed from Heat 16a with Julien Mas progressing with just a landed flaka - with himself and Giovanni Passani having a nightmare getting out.

Traversa then received a bye into the next round with Tilo Eber not present - however, TT still produce an amazing eagle wing - but then chose to withdraw from the contest after slightly injuring himself to save himself for his main focus - the waves. While Passani successfully made it out in the double elimination to defeat Adam Sims and moved directly into the third round with Traversa withdrawing.

Elsewhere, Loick Spicher, Francesco Cappuzzo, Nic Hibdige, Youp Schmit, Max Rowe, Davy Scheffers and Riccardo Marca all progressed through the opening two rounds.

Meanwhile, Kiri Thode's day went from bad to worse as the former world champion was knocked out in the first round of the double by Jeremy Plüss, while Venezuela's Deivis Paternina Teran also suffered the same fate at the hands of Max Matissek.

Paternina landed a sick air shuvit spock, but didn't complete a single move on starboard tack. In Heat 34b Marco Lufen also failed to land a move on starboard tack, which is perhaps a testament to just how testing the conditions were.

Result Men's Freestyle Mercedes-Benz PWA Super Grand Slam - Single Elimination:

1st Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails)
2nd Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne)
3rd Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)
4th Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing)
5th Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Balz Müller (Patrik / Severne)
5th Mattia Fabrizi (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg)
5th Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Yentel Caers (JP / Point-7)
9th Julien Mas (JP / Gun Sails)
9th Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / Neilpryde / Shamal Sunglasses)
9th Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks)
9th Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Yegor Popretinskiy (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins / Flymount)
9th Tonky Frans (RRD / RRD Sails)
9th Nicolas Akgazciyan (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)

Result Women's Wave Mercedes-Benz PWA Super Grand Slam - Single Elimination

1st Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne)
5th Caroline Weber (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg)
5th Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic)
5th Caterina Stenta (RRD / RRD Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)

Current Ranking Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Super Grand Slam - Men's Slalom

*After 2 Eliminations

1st Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)
2nd Vincent Langer (Fanatic /NorthSails)
3rd Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses)
4th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
5th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove /LoftSails / Chopper Fins)
6th Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails)
7th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)
8th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)
9th Enrico Marotti (RRD /NeilPryde)
10th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)