Lina Erpenstein & Camille Juban win Chile World Cup 2024 – PWA IWT Wave Tour Matanzas

Lina Erpenstein and Camille Juban win the Chile World Cup 2024 – PWA IWT Wave Tour in Matanzas in great conditions. Right at the start of the semifinals, the swell kicked in with a bang and over mast high sets started to roll in. The current became treacherous and competitors had to wait for lulls to get out, but when the sets rolled in, they offered incredible down the line riding.

I’m over the moon happy. I’ve dreamt about this for so long, but the level was so high and the bombs were rolling in and I was just in survival mode. I’m very happy with the tactics in the heat. I positioned well and read the waves well. It feels unreal to win. Just this whole trip has been a trip of a lifetime. Lina Erpenstein about her first win

Award ceremony – Pic: Fishbowl Diaries

The women’s final saw a great battle between a super-charged Alexia Kiefer Quintana and Lina Erpenstein. Kiefer Quintana’s power turns in critical sections had impressed the judges the entire competition. After a somewhat shaky start, Kiefer Quintana took a good set and slayed her way through three power turns under the looming lip and in front of the rocks. Erpenstein answered back with some solid turns in the pocket. But in the last minute of the heat, Erpenstein took a good sized, peeling wave, slashed her way through several turns and then pulled off a nice aerial to take the win.

Lina Erpenstein Aerial – Pic: Fishbowl Diaries

Men’s Finals

Some of the biggest sets of the day came through in the men’s final. Despite a relaxed demeanour, an intensely focused Camille Juban picked the biggest and best sets, tearing apart the biggest wave of the day with a 15 foot face.  Where many waves looked like they would break too fast for real top to bottom riding, Juban managed to do more turns, in more critical places on the bombs than anyone else, and then finish by nailing huge aerials. The waves seemed to slow down when he was riding, but that was just an indication of how good his read on the waves was. On another bomb set, that many would have deemed to have a close-out section, Juban managed to pull off multiple smacks and an almost impossibly late aerial to score a 9.13. Juban finished the day with an excellent heat score of 18.16 and was the deserved winner.

We just couldn’t ask for more on a finals day and we got the best in the world. I’m just super stoked.  It was a long week and it was hard to stay focused, but I’m super happy to finish with a such a good day with great waves. Camille Juban

Camille Juban – Pic: Fishbowl Diaries

Not far behind Juban was a fired up Morgan Noireaux. Noireaux pulled the move of the contest with a radically Goiter on a monster wave, that was landed with incredible perfection to score an 8.23. He continued his charge by picking off a bomb, riding with his powerful top to bottom surf style and then making a mast high aerial at the end for his best score of 8.57. 

Victor Fernandez tended to pick the medium set waves, which may have cost him a higher place, but it seemed a deliberate strategy where he could guarantee pulling off a goiter, aerials and some beautifully critical turns to take third place.

With the main competition finished after five intense days, the Masters and Pro Juniors will likely compete during the next days. But it seems the Chile World Cup has cemented itself as a premier 5-star event on the World Windsurfing Tour.