Report from day Four – Hvide Sande, Denmark
- Yesterday, we completed seven eliminations of the women’s and five of the men’s division in the FreeFly-Slalom discipline
- Nia Suardiaz won six out of seven eliminations and Kylie Belloeuvre scored one round
- Titouan Galea was battling it out against Julien Rattotti and Francesco Cappuzzo
WOMEN’S ELIMINATIONS 1-7
Following two days of light and unstable breezes, the athletes again had an early start to make the most wind and have a chance of getting a FreeFly-Slalom result in Denmark.
Shortly after dawn the women’s elimination rounds opened the action. The 10-leg course, with a triangle and “pump track”, tested the athletes to the full. Shifty and gusty sideshore breezes made life difficult for the riders.
The French rider Kylie Belloeuvre kept the pressure on and opened her account with a win in the first race of the day.
“It was a good day for me,” said Belloeuvre. “It was crazy. It was intense, for sure. The wind is light, but I like the format. The pump track was super-long. It’s so exhausting. We really had to put some power into it, and I took advantage of that. I’m really happy with the way I raced.”
Spain’s Nia Suardiaz slipped up in the first elimination round of the day when she could only manage a second place. After a minor setback, she dominated the next six contests, winning them all.
MEN’S ELIMINATIONS 1-5
The men battled on longer. France’s Julien Rattotti, who has focused on FreeFly-Slalom, was one of the day’s standouts and earned a second place and three third-place finishes from the five elimination rounds.
“This morning was a good morning for me,” said Rattotti, the current GWA Big Air World Champion. “I’m happy about it and I hope there’s more to come. I’m not really surprised, because I trained a lot with the team. My first race wasn’t good, but after that little warm up, it was good. The conditions were a little light, but I’m not heavy.”
Titouan Galea was buoyed by his performance, which was helped hugely when he was able to discard his worst score after the fourth round.
“I managed to win the first two rounds,” said Galea. “But in the third one I had a really bad start. I was maybe down in eight on the first reach and I fell in the triangle, attacking under everyone. I fell off the foil and ended up last. On the short track it’s pretty much about the start.” – Galea said.
Words: Ian MacKinnon
Photo: Lukas K Stiller
