Steven van Broeckhoven wins the 1st Freestyle Single Elimination in front of Tonky Frans, Gollito Estredo and Kiri Thode. Due to the offshore wind direction, the race crew had to move the competition area incl. judges and race crew far outside.
We have put together a quick, small clip with a bit of action and statements.
28 year old Steven van Broeckhoven from Lommel, Belgium put an impressive show on the water on the 7th day of the GP Joule Windsurf World Cup Sylt 2013. In very gusty side offshore conditions and a nasty hard short chop he made the most out of it and nailed difficult double combos. He won against the German Fabi Weber, the talented Max Rowe from UK, later against Taty Frans. In his fourth heat of the day he faced Kiri Thode, who recently won the DAM7 PWA World Cup and was able to beat Steven in the final of the double elimination there. This time Steven was the stronger sailor, started with a double Culo and landed a fully planing Air Flaka, a one handed Burner  and a clean Pushloop. All his moves were extremely powerful. Kiri landed a Spock Culo and a Clewfirst Backloop. But this time Steven was the better one and faced Tonky Frans in the final. European’s top freestyler put a lot of power in all his moves, stayed a lot more upwind and closer to the judges on the boat and secured his win in the single elimination. Tonky had a good heat, but was not able to keep up with the powerful style of Steven this time.
Stevens heat against Kiri was outstanding compared to all other heats. 56 points out of 60 possible points in extremely gusty conditions from 10 to 25 knots. Steven used his JP-Australia Freestyle 100l with a Choco Fin 18,5cm and the NeilPryde Wizzard 4,8m.
Steven stated: “Today I was always focused to do the moves close to the boat with the judges. If you land the moves closer you are more visible. Kiri or someone else has to beat Gollito in the double and I have to win to have a possible chance to win the 2013 PWA freestyle title. But we still have to finish the double first!”
Steven has definitely the will to win the event and will give it all tomorrow morning. The freestyle sailors will meet at 08.30 am for the skippers meeting and continue the double elimination from 9.00 on. The forecast promises stronger wind, which should blow a bit more side shore. We can expect a big exciting final for the PWA Freestyle title. We definitely will be at the beach from 8.30 on and will keep you updated.
