PWA Torbole World Cup Garda - Overall
by Elena Giolai 15 May 13:44 BST
10-14 May 2023
Magic Sunday for the Circolo Surf Torbole: Garda Trentino redeemed itself on the last day of the Torbole PWA World Cup Windsurfing Slalom and, despite the always very cloudy weather alternating with some rain, the wind was the protagonist, allowing racing both in the morning with a northerly wind, and in the afternoon with a southerly wind that had risen in the last heat up to 15 knots.
Despite the difficult week in terms of weather, which disrupted the arrival of the regular Alto Garda winds, four men's and seven women's slalom heats were able to be completed.
On Sunday from late morning, after the second men's heats were completed at 8 a.m., the entire PWA staff, flanked by the Circolo Surf Torbole staff, did not miss a gust of wind and the heats raced non-stop, bringing great spectacle to Torbole, despite the absence of sunshine.
The men's victory went to the reigning world champion, Poland's Maciek Rutkowski, the most consistent, who with a 1-3-4-7 took the top step of the podium, followed by the French former world champion Pierre Mortefon (10-3-9-1), winner of the last race scheduled for late afternoon.
Surprising was the World Cup debut of Thai-Australian Will McMillan, who finished in a tie for third place. The young athlete showed that coming from the new iQFoil Olympic class (last year he took part in the iQFOil European Championships in Torbole) he is absolutely competitive with the pros: in the second final, in which he was in the lead and probably did not control the pressure, he fell in a gybe, but his redemption was not long in coming as he won the next round, deserving the third step of the podium at only 17 years of age.
The Italians finished below expectations: Matteo Iachino finished sixth and home athlete Bruno Martini thirteenth.
The women's category was literally dominated by France's Justine Lemeteuyer, who won 6 out of 7 races; a great comeback by Spain's Blanca Alabau, who after a dull start (8-11) found her footing and sprinted to second place overall.
Blanca had an exceptional caddy in Torbole: her sister Marina, Olympic gold medallist at London 2012 with the RS:X board, came in handy in the waters of Lake Garda to bring the eventual change of board and sail to Blanca. France again in third place with Marion Mortefon, who also started not so well in the heats with very unstable wind on the first day, but subsequently recovered.
For the entire organisation, supported by Garda Dolomiti in the person of its President Silvio Rigatti, Trentino Marketing in the person of Maurizio Rossini, the Municipality of Nago-Torbole in the person of the Mayor Gianni Morandi and with the patronage of the Autonomous Province of Trento, with the Councillor for Promotion, Sport and Tourism Roberto Failoni, and with the collaboration of Circolo Vela Torbole and the Italian Sailing Federation, it was an intense, difficult week and, while there was the great satisfaction of having brought the World Cup back to Italy and to Torbole after 31 years, and of having had a final day with a good wind and hard-fought races, there was the bitterness of offering a completely different landscape compared to when there are beautiful sunny days and thermal winds of up to 20-30 knots. But this certainly gives us the strength to try again next year, bringing the PWA circus back to Lake Garda and the Circolo Surf Torbole!
More information here
Final day video by Emilio Santinelli: