Indoor PWA World Cup Warschau 2014
It’s back… 8 Jaar verder en indoor is weer terug, dit keer groter en beter dan ooit. Het podium voor dit spektakel is het Nationale Stadion van Polen, gevestigd in Warschau. Dit stadion is komend weekend (5 – 7 september) de arena voor de créme de la créme van
‘s werelds grootste windsurf talenten.
Het Nationale Stadion ligt kleine een 16 kilometer vanaf het Warschau Fredrick Chopin vliegveld en biedt plaats voor 58.000 toeschouwers. Het stadion beschikt over een ‘state-of-the-art’ uitschuifbaar dak. Door de aanleg van een gigantisch zwembad van maar liefst 90 meter lang en 33 meter breed, is het stadion omgetoverd tot windsurf speeltuin. Het zwembad wordt vergezeld door 34 gigantische windturbines aan de zijkant van het bad. Dit zijn de meeste windturbines die ooit gebruikt zijn bij een indoor evenement. Deze windturbines zijn in staat om een windsnelheid van 70 km/u te generen, bijna 38 knopen. Alles is in huis voor de surfers om gigantische snelheden te behalen, sicke jumps te maken en explosieve freestyles neer te zetten. Al met al een spectaculaire show die het indoor windsurfen leven in gaat blazen met een knal!
Morgen (6 september) om 20:00 gaat het evenement officieel van start met de speed slalom, opgevolgd door een freestyle explosie voordat het helemaal los gaat op het onderdeel jump.
PWA deelde een overzicht van het aankomend weekend met daarin uitleg over de verschillende disciplines, wedstrijdopbouw en de favorieten. Hierin is tevens een interview te vinden met de Nederlandse Amanda Beenen. Amanda is zwaar onder de indruk van het stadion en kan niet wachten om het water op te gaan.
Lees alles hieronder en blijf Motion in de gaten houden voor meer nieuws over de PWA Indoor World Cup 2014 in Warschau.
Slalom
A total of sixteen men will be competing for the honour of being crowned the racing king of the pool, but first of all sixteen trialists will be competing against the clock for the remaining ten places in the main draw, which currently features Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North), Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North), Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne) and, last but not least, Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / MFC).
Matteo Iachino warms up
The main event will then see four of the fastest men in the world launching down the start ramp, in four separate heats, as they battle it out for the top two qualifying places, until only the top two remain. At this point the last two standing will compete in a thrilling, high octane, best out of three heats final – where the winner takes all. The women’s division will see reigning world champion – Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Loft Sails) – competing against the likes of Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic / AL360), Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Mystic), Maria Andres (Patrik / Gun Sails / Mystic), Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Mystic) and Zofia Klepacka.
The slalom promises to be an exhilarating and nerve jangling affair with only just enough room for the sailors to manoeuvre between each other. Prepare for almost inseparable racing combined with, no doubt, several massive wipeouts.
Freestyle
Five-time PWA Freestyle World Champion – Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo will line up alongside Davy Scheffers (Tabou / GA Sails), Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / NeilPryde), Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) and the legendary Frans brother’s – Tonky (Tabou / GA Sails) and Taty Frans – in the men’s main draw, whilst the fifteen trialists will be given three attempts on each tack to wow the judges with their biggest and most explosive moves in their effort to qualify for the main event.
Davy Scheffers (Tabou / GA Sails) sees the setup for the first time:
“I’m a bit speechless to be honest.”
Davy Scheffers prepares his weapon of choice
Max Rowe (Fanatic / North), who is the one the men aiming to make the main draw:
“The stadium and pool looks sick, I just want to go out.”
Once into the main event the top sixteen will be given a further two runs on each tack, before the top four battle it out in the final, where the best two runs out of three will decide the overall champion.
Meanwhile, the women’s main draw will feature the undisputed queen of freestyle – Sarah-Quita Offringa – as well as Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), sixteen year old Maaike Huvermann (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Arrianne Aukes (RRD / Simmer / Maui Ultra Fins), who is returning to the competition scene after suffering an ankle injury just before the PWA Freestyle event in Fuerteventura added “My ankles not perfect and I only started sailing again last week, so I’m not doing all my moves like flakas and things, but I’m still super excited to be here.”. Each lady will be given three attempts on each tack to land their biggest moves in order to impress both the crowds and the judges.
The girls ready for action
Jump
The final discipline will see some of the best jumpers in the world hurtling themselves towards a stunt ramp at full speed, before launching into a mind-blowing array of jumps as they lay everything on the line to go in search of victory.
Already in the main event for the men’s fleet are world beaters Ricardo Campello (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC), Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde), Dany Bruch (Starboard / Challenger / AL360), Boujmaa Guilloul (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins), Alex Mussolini (Tabou / GA Sails), Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) and Poland’s very own Maciek Rutkowski (Patrik / Point-7), who said: “Maaan, I’m just over the moon an indoor event is happening at all! And to have it in my country in a 50k capacity stadium is a dream come true. And to be a part of it and compete in it? Are you kidding me?! I’m just waiting for somebody to kick me in the nuts and I’ll wake up! Unreal…”. Meanwhile the women’s fleet will see Sarah-Quita Offringa battling it out against Amanda Beenen (Tabou / GA Sails) and Justyna Sniady.
Amanda Beenen looks ahead to the start of the indoor:
“Like for many of the riders It’s the first indoor event for me. I have been really excited and a bit nervous about it for many days now! When I arrived in Poland everything already exceeded my expectations! From the moment we’ve been picked up it was clear that the event is very well organised. I’ve just visited the pool to take a look and man, it’s mind blowing! The stadium is enormous and really beautiful. It didn’t really help to settle my nerves as I am competing in the jump event and the ramp doesn’t look very easy haha! But I look forward to jumping into the pool in front of a few thousand people. We have the most awesome riders here and I hope we can all show the world how awesome windsurfing is!”
Amanda Beenen
In the battle to qualify for the main draw the men will be given seven chances to show off their most impressive moves with their top two scores being totalled to decide who goes through. From here both fleets will then have a further three jumps in each round to go bigger and more radical than ever before, as they look to ensure that the evening ends in spectacular fashion.
Tomorrow will see the main event officially begin at 8pm with super speed slalom followed by a freestyle frenzy, before mayhem is unleashed with the jump, which is expected to finish around 11pm. Don’t miss any of the mind-blowing action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com, where you’ll be able to follow the main event as it happens via the live stream and live ticker.
