Chile World Cup 2024: Europeans take down top seed Hawaiian based riders as we head into finals day
by International Windsurfing Tour 7 Apr 2024 12:53 AEST
1-12 April, 2024
It wasn't the day to be ranked world number one or two as both Roediger and Hauser suffered shock losses at the hands of the European left hand wave specialists.
Head high swells and mostly light wind characterised the day, where the remaining three heats of Men's round 3 and the first three heats of the women's quarterfinals were held.
Women's Quarterfinals - Heats 1 to 3
After a false start, Heat 1 saw a confident Justyna Sniady (Poland) showcase her left hand riding expertise with some strong turns and lip hits to take the win. Coco Fouveau (France) found her rhythm with good speed and an attacking style to take out second place, eliminating the gutsy junior champion from Spain, Maria Morales Novarro.
In Heat 2, German star, Lina Erpenstein, leant on her extensive competition experience to ride the right gear, read the conditions and negotiate some power moves on the better waves of the heat. Fourteen year-old Sol Degrieck (Belgium) had some strong top to bottom rides with aggressive turns to take out world number two, Sarah Hauser (France), in what was a huge upset.
The wind picked up and turned perfect cross offshore for a cracking Heat 3. Alexia Keifer Quintana (Spain) powered her way through some of the most aggressive snaps and lip smacks to again take the highest heat total of the women's round (14.17). Pauline Katz (Switzerland) was also impressive with tight snaps and good aerials to get the second best heat score of the day (13.00), eliminating powerful tour veteran and 2023 world number four, Maria Andrés (Spain).
Men's Round 3 - Heats 6 to 8
The young Spaniards took charge of Heat 6. Scores mainly sat in the mid-range level for most of the heat. But Marino Gil Gheradi found a fast running set, which allowed multiple aerials, in the last few minutes to take the win over good friend Liam Dunkerbeck. This eliminated local hero Vincent Gonzales (Chile), who had battled hard to win the Challenger series. Gonzales had injured his shoulder in a wipeout yesterday, but rode bravely with huge cheers from the local crowd on the packed beach.
Heat 7 was a tight battle of the big wave shredders and current world number 1, Bernd Roediger (Hawaii), was the unlucky casualty. Roediger had solid, critical hits on waves, but wasn't able to connect enough hits before the waves shut down. Past world champion and big wave guru, Thomas Traversa (France), took an early lead with aggressive snaps and critical aerials and was able to execute good variety across sections to take the win. Local charger Diego Fabres read the fast waves well to complete multiple aerials and slashing cut-backs to take second place.
Plenty of tricks were pulled out of the bag for Heat 8 to gain that critical point of difference and it was Victor Fernandez (Spain) who nailed a perfect goiter to take the lead. Julian Salmon (Germany) and Benjamin Fabres (Chile) had a nail-biting exchange, but Salmon just held off Fabres with good wave selection, aerials and powerful, tweaked cut-backs. Fabres remained a huge crowd favorite and was still welcomed back to the beach like a champion regardless.
Finals day for Pro Men and Pro Women will be on tomorrow with a larger swell forecas and good wind forecast. Large crowds are again expected into this local fishing village to watch the action from the beach and the luxury of Hotel Surazo overlooking it all. The Chile Magic continues.
Follow the live competition scores on Live Heats. The full Live Broadcast will be streamed on the IWT Wave Tour YouTube channel, and the official IWT event page. Follow on social media channels @IWT_Wave_Tour and @PWAworldtour.