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| [day 01] - 17.07.03
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| Deutsch -> siehe unten...
A sure sign that the Fuerteventura PWA World Cup and Super-X Exhibition is going to be one of the most competitive ever, is that all of the professional windsurfers have been in non-stop training here in Sotavento since the last PWA competition finished two weeks ago. Usually during the break between these two mega events, the PWA sailors can be found relaxing elsewhere, but this year their passions and priorities have changed.
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|  | | | Registration tent | |
It is probably because the Freestyle World Champion title is almost certainly going to be won in 2003 by one of the 'young guns' who've been so close to winning in recent years but have always been beaten by the maturity and professionalism of hardened world tour sailors Antoine Albeau (AHD / Neil Pryde), Matt Pritchard (Gaastra), Nik Baker (Mistral / North).
However, not only have all three of these threats have been eliminated from this years title race through injury or in Albeau's case, a chance to break the world speed record this week, they simply don’t have the vitality of youth which is leading this unstoppable wave of young freestylers.
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|  | | | Registraton July 17th | |
The only real challenge left from the old guys is Vidar Jensen (North), recent winner of the wave competition on his home turf at the Gran Canaria Grand Slam. But the chances of him beating the phenomenal Ricardo Campello (JP Australia / Neil Pryde) who convincingly won all three rounds of Freestyle in Gran Canaria, has to be pretty slim this week. And the better Ricardo does (who turned only eighteen yesterday), the more inspirational he is to other youngsters too, of which there are many here hoping to kick ass.
Brazil nut Kauli Seadi (Naish / Naish), Robby Swift (JP / Neil Pryde) and Tonky Frans (AHD / Gaastra) are just a handful of other youngsters seriously ready to win a world title.
In fact the qualifiers to get into Fuerteventura PWA Freestyle World Cup has been dominated by teenagers. Judge of the trials, Julian Da Vall, was amazed at the level of the newcomers and commented that many of them were sailing better than the main fleet. The top seven sailors in the trials now face the PWA sailors in what is set to be the most competitive event of the year. Look out for Ben Proffitt K-800 (JP / Neil Pryde), Normen Guenzlien G- 186 (Neil Pryde), Christian Dammers NB-115 (Starboard), Matteo Guazzoni I-711, Christopher Living S-80 (AHD / North) and Frank Lewisch AUT-19 (Gaastra) as they compete for a share of the Euro 75,000 prize fund.
The first PWA Super-X competition starts on July 22nd. Super-X is the radical new discipline combining the speed of slalom racing and the agility of freestyle posing such a threat to the safety of competitors it is necessary for them to wear body amour and crash helmets. Whether the tricksters or racers win this event remains to be seen!
The women have turned out in force here too with fourteen entries, dominated by the Spanish and Austrians, with only current Freestyle World Champion, Karin Jaggi (F2 / Arrows) from Switzerland, Poland’s Ania Ostrowska, in her debut event, and Germanys Anne-Katherine Stevens (Mistral / North) representing any other country.
Daida Moreno (Mistral / North) won the freestyle ahead of her sister Iballa Moreno (Mistral / North) at the first event this year so the challenge is on amongst the girls for the rest of this week, also with many newcomers and teenagers in the fleet.
The 2003 Freestyle World Tour has never been more radical, creative and competitive and Sotavento is one of the worlds leading freestyle venues. The forecast for wind is fantastic so the stage is set for furious battles over the next ten days! Watch this space for daily reports.
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| [DEUTSCH]
Tag 1 - Einschreibung
Zum 18. mal in Folge steht Fuerteventura im Mittelpunkt der Windsurf-Welt. Ein hochklassiges Feld aus 48 Herren und 13 Damen tritt an, um am Sotavento Beach den Freestyle Titel zu erobern. 65.000 Euro Preisgeld warten darauf, unter den besten Surfern verteilt zu werden.
Größter Favorit ist der Brasilianer Ricardo Campello (BRA-111), der bisher alle Freestyle Wertungen der 2003er PWA Profi-Tour gewinnen konnte. Auch sein Landsmann Kauli Seadi (BRA-253) und der Engländer Robby Swift (K-89) werden als heiße Kandidaten für den Sieg gehandelt.
Heute stand die Einschreibung auf dem Programm, bei der die Surfer sich für den Event registrieren. Der letzte Tag vor dem offiziellen Start der Wettfahrten wird von den Aktivern für Materialvorbereitung und zum abschließenden Training genutzt.
Für einige Sportler wurde es schon heute ernst, denn neben 42 gesetzten Profis wurden die letzten 6 Startplätze der Männer in einem Qualifikationswettkampf ausgefahren.
Unter den glücklichen Gewinnern war auch der 18-jährige Normen Günzlein (G-186) aus Scharbeutz. Der junge Surfer von der Ostsee gilt als einer der talentiertesten deutschen Newcomer und hat vor kurzem den Freestyle Titel beim Deutschen Windsurf Cup auf Sylt gewonnen.
Neben Normen Günzlein treten der aus Aurich stammende Kieler Klaas Voget (G-4), der Wiesbadener Andy Pusch (G-121), der Oldenburger Rik Fiddicke (G-500), der aus Rostock stammende Hamburger André Paskowski (G-2) und Max Hergt (G-290) aus Hannover an.
Bei den Damen gehen Anne-Kathrin Stevens (G-200) aus Hamminkeln am Niederrhein und die auf Fuerteventura lebende Susanne Kather (E-102) an den Start.
Die Wind- und Wettervorhersagen für die nächsten Tage sehen gut aus - spannende Wettkämpfe sind garantiert.
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Autor: E: pwa, Pix: Williams - D: Media Service | |
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