On the final day of the 2019 Aloha Classic the 2019 PWA Wave Champions got crowned: Sarah-Quita Offringa wins her first PWA Wave title and Philip Köster his 5th title.

Sarah-Quita Offringa & Philip Köster are the 2019 PWA Wave Champions - Pic: PWA/J. Carter

Sarah-Quita Offringa & Philip Köster are the 2019 PWA Wave Champions – Pic: PWA/J. Carter

Sarah-Quita Offringa becomes the first woman in over two decades to claim the Women’s PWA World Championship – aside from the legendary Moreno twins who have dominated women’s wave sailing for over 20-years. Offringa started the year with two third places, but then markedly stepped her game in both Sylt and Maui to reel off back-to-back wave event wins for the first time in her career and deservedly claims her first wave world title.

We called Sarah-Quita and this is what she told us about her first PWA wave world title 

 

Sarah-Quita Offringa on winning her first PWA Wave World title: 

“Honestly, this one feels totally different from any other title I’ve previously won. Wave sailing was a challenge, still is a challenge and this year we’ve had so many different conditions with completely different conditions. The race for the title has been really tight, so that makes it so much sweeter to win this title. Actually, I didn’t really expect it to happen this year so I’m super happy!”

That is not only an incredible achievement for Offringa, who completes a career grand slam – having already won 12 Freestyle and 4 Slalom world titles, but it is also testament to the incredible level that both Iballa & Daida Ruano Moreno have set over the last two decades and their reign at the top is by no means over.

Daida dominated in Pozo earlier in the year, while Iballa finishes the year as the vice-world champion having won the world title for the last 5 years and was extremely close to winning this year’s title. If Iballa had have been able to hold on to her radical aerial in the final then the rankings may well have been reversed, but those are the fine margins that make the difference at the very top of the sport.

Justyna Sniady discards her result from Maui, but deservedly claims her place on the overall podium for the first time in her career – having finished on the podium in each of the opening three events.

A Sarah-Quita slash at Ho’okipa – Pic: PWA/J. Carter

Philip Köster wins his 5th PWA World Championship at just 25-years-old. Incredibly this is just the second year in which Köster did not win an event during the season since winning his first world title in 2011. The only other time that that has happened was in 2016 when he missed the final two events of the year. This time around it was his consistency that proved key with 3 podiums in Europe setting a solid base heading into Maui. Before this year’s Aloha Classic the German had never won a heat in Maui, but he righted that record this year and his 3rd place in quarterfinals here proved decisive as if he had finished 4th – Marcilio Browne would’ve collected his second wave world title and third overall.

Philip Köster speaks after officially becoming the 2019 Men’s PWA Wave World Champion:

“Yeah, honestly this one feels different. This title has been a lot of work honestly. I didn’t win any events this year, which is what makes it different from the other times. Otherwise, I’m super, super happy that I made it. It’s also kind of nice to have done okay at the Aloha Classic. Before now I hadn’t actually won a heat here, so I’m stoked to have passed through a heat at the Aloha Classic. It’s really nice to finish the year here and I’m also pleased to have made it a bit further in the contest this time around. So yeah, just really happy about it!”

Big Aerial by Philip Köster

Big Aerial by Philip Köster – Pic: PWA/J. Carter

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