Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam Slalom Day 3
by Chris Yates 25 Jul 11:32 BST
Incredible Iachino boasts perfect record after dominating full fleet long distance races, while Women's Slalom X world title hangs on a knife's edge and is set to be decided on Saturday.
The forecast for Day 3 of Slalom X at the 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam was always billed as being an extremely windy one, but with gusts reportedly hitting up to 50 knots, many wouldn't have quite envisaged just how brutal Sotavento can be at times. During the morning, one more regular Men's elimination and two Women's eliminations were completed before the afternoon saw several spectacular full fleet races completing in howling winds and insane water conditions.
Slalom X
Women's
After the latest three Women's eliminations were completed today, which brings the grand total to eleven, things couldn't be any closer between Jenna Gibson (Duotone Windsurfing), Femke van der Veen (Starboard / Severne Sails) and Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) - with just 0.3 of a point separating first to third.
With things being so incredibly close, tomorrow's first race now holds extra significance as the third discard will come into play and as things stand Gibson will be looking to discard an eighth, van der Veen a fourth, as she has raced so consistently, and Lemeteyer a seventh - so depending how results work out there could be big implications for the world title race.
Van der Veen enjoyed her best day of the event so far as she claimed her opening bullet of the week in Elimination 9, while she was able to back that up with two solid second places to enter the world title race conversation.
Meanwhile, Gibson, who is battling a virus she picked up in France a few weeks ago, is having to not only battle against the hardcore conditions, but also her physical fitness too. After the completion of Elimination 10, the Brit dropped to third in the overall rankings with Lemeteyer leapfrogging her for the first time this week after the 28-year-old finished eighth in both the morning races. However, Gibson dug deep as she recovered from a couple of brutal wipeouts in the long distance race to eventually claim her first bullet in five eliminations to regain the event lead and things couldn't be any tighter at the top.
Lemeteyer looked set to extend her lead at the top of the rankings having worked so hard to get back into contention after a somewhat slow start. However when leading the long distance race, the 23-year-old got lifted by a savage gust on the penultimate reach, which led to her being unable to complete the course and needing a checkup from the doctor afterwards. It seems the reigning Foil Slalom world champion is okay after being checked, but this is again testament to how extreme the conditions were today, while all the women deserve great credit for racing on almost the same sized sails as their much heavier male counterparts.
The top three girls will now face a huge day tomorrow as the Women's Slalom X world title is set to be decided as the intention is to complete another four eliminations on Saturday, which would bring them to the maximum of 15 eliminations per event. With nothing separating the top three, Saturday promises to be an intense affair - particularly with similarly strong winds expected, while you can see this evening that a new swell is already starting to pulse into Sotavento.
Elsewhere, Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) claimed another second place in the opener today before securing two fifths to sit in fourth place, while Mae Davico (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) completes the top five ahead of Blanca Alabau (WeOne / Severne Sails) and Marion Mortefon (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails).
Men's - In a League of his Own
Matteo Iachino (Starboard / NeilPryde) is oozing confidence on the water as the Italian continues to tame the extreme conditions with consummate ease. After the opening seven eliminations, Iachino still boasts an incredible perfect record - 3.5 points - after winning both long distance, full fleet races today to take his bullet total to five, while he currently discards two second places. Iachino won't be counting his chickens yet, but given his level of performance thus far, it looks almost impossible for him not to be crowned Slalom X world champion come Sunday.
Pierre Mortefon (FMX Racing / North Sails) remains Iachino's closest challenger, but the two-time Slalom X world champion now trails by 7.2 points after a fourth, a sixth, which he discards, and a second today. If Mortefon is to retain his world title then it's probable that he will require purely bullets from the likely four eliminations remaining. Mortefon hasn't raced badly at all, but he has just run into an on fire Iachino at this stage.
Comeback King
Having started the event with a ninth, a sixteenth and a twenty-fifth, Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde) could've been forgiven for throwing in the towel and just 'accepting' that this year wasn't his year in Fuerteventura. However, the Pole has done the exact opposite. Rutkowski signed off yesterday with a third place and has managed to build some incredible momentum off of the back of that result. Firstly, Rutkowski won Elimination 5 to start Day 3, before going on to record a second and a third place, which sees the 34-year-old rise from twelfth, all the way into third place, as he looks to complete the unlikeliest of comebacks.
Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) drops one place to fourth, but now trails Rutkowski by 6.3 points, while Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins) continues to climb the rankings - finishing the day ranked fifth having started in seventh.
Elsewhere, Taty Frans (Future Fly / Point-7) loses a couple of places to sixth, while Jimmy Thieme (FMX Racing / Point-7) remains seventh after another extremely solid day with a fifth, a seventh and a ninth.
The top ten is currently completed by Benoit Merceur (Starboard / Severne Sails) - 8th - Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) - 9th - and Bruno Martini - 10th.
Elsewhere, Brendan Lorho (S2Maui) continues to impress with the 21-year-old bettering his best result from yesterday thus far - 9th after winning a B-Final - by powering to an extremely impressive fifth place in the first long distance race today. The Frenchman is currently ranked twelfth and continues to lead the Under 80kg division, while looking like a real talent for the future.
Waterspeed - Global Windsurfer Quest
From June until December, every kilometre you log on the Waterspeed app adds to your position on one global leaderboard — the Global Windsurfer Quest has been developed between Waterspeed and the PWA to bring the entire windsurfing community together. Sign up via the app now HERE and record one session before the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam for your chance to win a signed lycra from the winners.
You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Fuerteventura— including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Current Ranking 2026 PWA World Tour - Women's Slalom X
*After Eleven Eliminations (2 Discards)
1st Jenna Gibson (UK | Duotone Windsurfing)
2nd Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
4th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)
5th Mae Davico (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
Current Ranking 2026 PWA World Tour - Men's Slalom X
*After Seven Eliminations (2 Discards)
1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | FMX Racing / North Sails)
3rd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins)
6th Taty Frans (NB | Future Fly / Point-7)
7th Jimmy Thieme (FRA | FMX Racing / Point-7)
8th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
9th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
10th Bruno Martini (ITA | WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins)