El Medano, Tenerife put itself firmly back on the map last week as one of Europe's premiere windsurfing destinations. Having been off the PWA calendar for the past few years, local event organizer Dany Bruch revived the World Cup event for 2024 and put on one of the most impressive Tenerife events to date.
With a full lineup of divisions from Youth to Masters, El Medano didn't disappoint and provided the conditions to be able to complete all of the categories with winds ranging from 15-25 knots and head high surf.
In all divisions, every heat was tightly fought, with many heats being won or lost by fractions of a point.
WOMEN'S WAVE
Sarah-Quita sailed in her usual powerful and aggressive style to win every heat in the single elimination on her way to the final. In the final, the sets didn't always come her way but she sailed a great heat and finished 3rd in the single elimination.
In the double elimination, Sarah-Quita put up a valiant effort against Iballa Moreno but couldn't quite hold onto her 3rd spot, so she dropped to 4th, still an excellent result which will help Sarah-Quita on her quest for yet another World Title with Sylt and Maui still to go on the PWA/IWT World Tour.
MEN'S WAVE
The men's division was equally closely fought, and the riders had to pull out some of their biggest gear, with many heats being run in 5.3 conditions.
Ricardo was impressive throughout and only narrowly missed out on making the final of the single elimination by 0.5 of a point.
In the double elimination, Ricardo was able to climb up from 9th to 6th place with some solid riding and his trademark 1 hand 1 foot forwards.
Marino Gil Gherardi suffered a quarter final exit in the single elimination and had to fight his way back from what could have been a 17th place in the double.
He did not let this monumental task faze him though and put on a string of incredible heats, featuring double forwards and some outstanding wave riding.
Marino won 6 heats in a row to battle his way all the way back to 4th place in the event, especially impressive as this run of victories had to go through a number of world class riders, including Ricardo and his close friend and training partner, Liam Dunkerbeck.
Since this was a 4* event, the result won't go into Marino's points count at the end of the year, but the string of victories will surely bolster his confidence and he leaves the event still in the number 1 spot on the unified IWT/PWA rankings.
BOYS U21
Anton Richter put on some extremely solid performances in the Boys U21 heats. He will be slightly disappointed to have narrowly missed out on the podium but his sailing was on point and he was boosting jumps as high or higher than many of the top pro riders.
Congratulations to all the team on a great performance, and thank you especially to Dany Bruch and the PWA for working together to get this great event back on the map for 2024 and hopefully many years to come!
