Report from day Four – Sotavento, Fuerteventura
Suardiaz claims FreeFly-Slalom victory in Fuerteventura
- 15 eliminations successfully completed for the women, along with 6 for the men
- Suardiaz secures another victory in the FreeFly-Slalom division
- The final day of the event is here. We are set to wrap up the last men’s eliminations in the FreeFly-Slalom discipline and will crown all winners at the official closing ceremony
WOMEN’S ELIMINATIONS 8-15:
The women’s compact fleet of 10 allowed another eight races, to bring their total to 15.
Nia Suardiaz appeared utterly unstoppable. By the end of race 12, she had led every contest from start to finish and showed no signs of letting up in her pursuit of a perfect score.
Yet, perhaps the pressure began to tell and Suardiaz slipped up in race 13, though she already had the title in the bag. Flora Artzner (FRA) grabbed the lead at the pump section and as Suardiaz fought for position, she crashed and did not recover in time.
Suardiaz reasserted her dominance in the final round, though Orane Ceris [FRA] pushed the young Spaniard hard. Suardiaz closed out with a convincing win to cement her place on top of the leaderboard, with Artzner and Ceris taking the second and third podium.
“I’m super-happy, I’ve won 13 elimination rounds out 15. So yes, I’m just super-grateful to be here.” – Suardiaz said.
MEN’S ELIMINATIONS 4-6:
The tension ahead of the sixth and last elimination final of the day was palpable.
Bastien Escofet rounded the first mark ahead, but Alan Fedit tacked inside him and held the lead to the finish despite the pressure from Escofet, Francesco Cappuzzo and Galea.
The finishing order compressed the leaderboard, cutting Titouan Galea’s lead. But with three elimination rounds scheduled for the last day of competition and another discard to come, when a rider can throw out the worst score, the potential for dramatic change is huge.
Read all about day 4 here.
Words: Ian MacKinnon
Photo: Lukas K Stiller
