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PWA World Tour

Antoine Albeau wins battle for the 2014 Slalom world title

Delphine Cousin claimed an emphatic final victory and the world title

dimanche 23 novembre 2014Information PWA

Toutes les versions de cet article : [English] [français]

The last day of the Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup PWA saw a grandstand finale to the 2014 PWA World Tour as the morning showers finally cleared to allow the wind to fill in and the respective titles to be decided. With the racing beginning later than scheduled the title race came down to one final race, which would ultimately decide the title, so there was everything riding on it for both Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne).

Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) had been leading the event rankings for the past two days and the flying Dutchman secured his maiden event victory after claiming the final bullet of the week, whilst Albeau completed a famous hat-trick of world titles after finishing second compared to Moussilmani’s fifth place in elimination nine. Meanwhile, Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Loft Sails), ended the year in style as she claimed the final victory of the week to be crowned both the Queen of Noumea and the world.

Antoine Albeau secures a hat-trick of world titles - 2012-14 :

PWA : How were you feeling this morning before the racing began ?

AA : “It felt like any other day to be honest because every other day was also like this - you know Cyril [Moussilmani] was leading at the beginning and then I was leading too so we’ve been dealing with the same feelings all week. Obviously everything could still change this morning, but I felt the same as otherwise - it’s never done until it’s officially done. I was hoping that Cyril didn’t qualify for the final though, but he did and so did I. I was really happy with my sailing today. I didn’t take too much risk, but made some good starts and overall sailed very nicely.”

PWA : Were you feeling nervous as you left the beach with Cyril as you sailed out for the final ?

AA : “Errr yes and no… I cannot really say no because for sure we’re under stress, but what can you do ? It’s just part of the game and whoever handles it better wins. If you don’t want to have the stress of winning then you just wouldn’t compete. It’s a good sensation - something we want and something we need.”

PWA : That makes it three years in a row for you being world champion - how does that feel ?

AA : “It feels good because in a second it can all change and you can just as easily miss out on a world title, so I’m very happy it turned out well for me today. It was also nice to have my parents and my girlfriend on the beach too, together with a lot of guys who wanted me to win - so they were happy to see me do well in the final. Overall I’m pretty happy.”

Winners’ Final

Delphine Cousin ended the event in the best possible fashion as she claimed an emphatic final victory, which guaranteed her the event title to go alongside her world championship. The, now, two-time world champion led from start to finish proving exactly why she is the Queen of the world for the second year in a row. Sarah-Quita Offringa was in contention at the second gybe, but suffered a broken outhaul rope - ending her hopes of back-to-back bullets. This meant that Lena Erdil finished second ahead of Valerie Ghibaudo and María Andrés (Fanatic / Gun Sails / Mystic), but more importantly for, Erdil, her excellent form over the last four days of sailing sees her finish second overall in the world rankings - her best finish to date.

Delphine Cousin speaks after winning the Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup and the 2014 PWA Women’s Slalom World Championship :

“I feel very happy after this season. I’m delighted to win the last event here [Noumea] in front of Lena [Erdil] and Sarah [Quita Offringa]. My goal at the start of the year was to be world champion again, so this is just the perfect finish for me.”

“The whole week has been very good for me. We’ve had amazing winds - magic conditions really. We had fourteen races for the girls, so I don’t think we could do any better than that.”


Overall Results 2014 PWA Slalom World Tour - Men’s

  • 1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
  • 2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)
  • 3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North)
  • 4th Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)
  • 5th Pascal Toselli (Starboard / Point-7)
  • 6th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)
  • 7th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
  • 8th Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North)
  • 9th Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / MFC)
  • 10th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

Overall Results 2014 PWA Slalom World Tour - Women’s

  • 1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Loft Sails)
  • 2nd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic / AL360)
  • 3rd Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou / GA Sails)
  • 4th Maria Andres (Fanatic / Gun Sails / Mystic)
  • 5th Mio Anayama (Starboard / NeilPryde)


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