PWA Surf World Cup Podersdorf 2011 - Steven van Broeckhoven wins

Steven van Broeckhoven is the winner of the PWA Surf World Cup 2011 in Austria. After 2,5 years again a European sailor wins an event and can fend off the Caribbean armada. The last European event winner was Antxon Otaegui 2008 on Sylt. “It feels like i’m dreaming! I’m really happy, and really motivated to go for it this year. During the heat i was just sailing for myself, so I didn’t know how well I’d done against Kiri. I was just trying to do my best,” Steven says after the announcement of the winners.

Steven wins

On time at 6:30 in the morning the first heat of the third round of the double elimination was started. The cold weather front was still there and has cooled the air and water temperature. The temperature was far from comfortable and we were actually filming and taking pictures in our winteroutfits and boots. The wind was gusty in between 9 to 16 knots and the heat duration of 10 minutes made it not warmer for the riders. First on the water were Soltysiak vs. Zan and Chambers vs. Eber. The Canadian freestyler Phil Soltysiak, who prepared in Tarifa for this event could beat the Slovenian Zan but as well as Tilo Eber, Dieter van der Eyken and Tonky Frans. His last opponent Davy Scheffers stopped his run and put the Canadian on the 6th position.

Davy Scheffers

Davy Scheffers, whose best result was a 7th at the this years freestyle competition in Vietnam so far was the surprise of the day. The Dutch freestyle windsurfer knocked out Yegor Popretinskiy, Antony Ruenes, Phil Soltysiak, Taty Frans and even the Freestyle Worldchampion Gollito Estredo with a 5:0 decision. From that moment on Davy was only smiling and in the heat against Kiri Thode for place two, he told us, when passing our filming spot, that he does not really care anymore about the result, because he is already on the third place. He started again and made a Gecko Flaka. But Davy did not give up and landed at the end of this heat a very nice Double Eslider. In the end Kiri had the better moves, but Davy lost in glory.

Davy after he knew he has knocked out Gollito

THE FINAL

So there were again the same two sailors fighting for the top spot on the podium, the defender Steven van Broeckhoven and the contender Kiri Thode. In the first run, the wind dropped totally, which put the advantage on the lighter sailor Kiri Thode and did not let Steven make his big airmoves. Kiri won this final, so another final, the super final got started. The wind came back and the heat was more balanced. Both sailors could show their repertoir, which made it not easy for the judges. In the end it was a 3-2 judging decision and put Steven van Broeckhoven on the top of the podium.