Am fünften und letzten Tag des Slalom X beim PWA Grand Slam 2026 auf Fuerteventura wurden zwei weitere eliminations für die Herrenfleet abgeschlossen, doch was als vermeintlich relativ einfacher letzter Tag für Matteo Iachino (Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins) seinen ersten Slalom-X-Weltmeistertitel zu holen zu sein schien, nahm bald eine unerwartete Wendung und bescherte einen Tag voller Drama, als Pierre Mortefon (FMX Racing / North Sails) versuchte Iachinos Titeljagd zu vereiteln, während er versuchte, die Krone zum dritten Mal in Folge zu verteidigen.
Gegenseitiger Respekt zwischen zwei großen Rivalen.
Men’s
Matteo Iachino started the day on the cusp of becoming the Slalom X world champion for the first time with the Italian in a commanding position as he ‘only’ required a top six result to guarantee himself the title. Meanwhile, Pierre Mortefon would be required to win Elimination 10 and hope his rival would finish outside the top six to force the title race into a decider.
Given that Iachino had finished outside the top two just once in the opening eight eliminations - and that was in the very last race of yesterday - things from the outside looked pretty much like a foregone conclusion.
In betting terms you’d have probably gotten over 100/1 on Mortefon becoming world champion last night. However, sport has a miraculous way of making the most unlikely of circumstances occur, and sure enough that’s exactly what happened as Iachino, who had barely put a toe nail wrong up to that point, failed to qualify for the Winners’ Final of Elimination 10 to cause the biggest shock of the event, while offering Mortefon an unexpected lifeline.
Still, it was a tall order to ask with nothing but a victory being good enough to keep the world title race alive. However, Mortefon has an uncanny knack of raising his level when he needs to and he thrived under the pressure to claim a clear cut victory to force an eleventh and deciding elimination.
On the beach you could feel a shift in the momentum as Iachino, who had been so dominant all week, all of a sudden looked slightly vulnerable, while with almost an hour between Elimination 10 and the start of Elimination 11, he would have to sit stewing in his own thoughts with plenty of time for an element of doubt to creep into his own head. Confidence takes a long time to build, but can be destroyed in an instant - especially with a world title on-the-line. The Italian had everything to lose, while Mortefon, who was very much in the ascendancy at that point, had everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
Ultimately, both men successfully navigated their way into the last Winners’ Final of the week and the two heavyweights went head-to-head at the front of the pack, which is exactly what the Frenchman didn’t want as he needed Iachino out of the top six. With the bit between his teeth, Mortefon powered into the lead on the penultimate reach and you could see Iachino wanting to put down the accelerator and go with his great rival. However, with a world title at stake, Iachino made the sensible decision of settling for second place to claim a fourth PWA world title overall, while becoming the first man to snatch the Slalom X world crown from Mortefon’s grasp.
For Mortefon, he still finishes as the vice-world champion after another super solid event. The Frenchman finished like a train again as he won three out of the final four eliminations, but was made to pay for a slightly slow middle of the event. And after Iachino started with a brilliant hat-trick he was always playing catch up.
Pierre Mortefon did everything in his power to keep the world title race alive
Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde) has given his fans one heck of a rollercoaster ride this week with many lows followed by highs. The Pole did brilliantly to recover from a horrendous start to haul himself back into contention for the podium, but with a few too many mistakes the 34-year-old didn’t have any margin for error if he was going to defend his third place from overnight. Rutkowski looked to be cruising for a place in the top 16 of Elimination 10, but fell hard as he approached the last buoy, threatening to once again undo all of his hard work. Fortunately for Rutkowski he made a quick recovery to advance and from there he secured fourth and sixth place finishes in Elimination 10 and 11 to complete a very unexpected comeback and claim the final place on the prestigious overall podium.
Meanwhile, Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins) just misses out on the podium by 2.6 points in fourth, while Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) finishes a few points further back in fifth, followed by Jimmy Thieme (FMX Racing / Point7) in sixth.
The top ten is completed by Taty Frans (Future Fly / Point-7) - 7th - Bruno Martini (WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins) - 8th - Benoit Merceur (Starboard / Severne Sails) and Lohan Jules (AV Boards / S2 Maui), but we’ll look into the full results in more detail in the Event Summary.
Elsewhere, Brendan Lorho (S2Maui) looks like a real star for the future after the 21-year-old not only convincingly won the new Under 80kg division, but the young Frenchman also finished just a couple of points outside of the top ten - twelfth. Lorho excelled with some exquisite gybing, but he also showed a tremendous amount of straight-line pace. Lorho finished the event by qualifying for two out of the last three Winners’ Finals - where he finished in an impressive fourth and fifth place - to announce himself on the world stage.
Result 2026 PWA World Tour - Women’s Slalom X
1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
2nd Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Jenna Gibson (UK | Duotone Windsurfing)
4th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)
5th Mae Davico (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women’s Slalom X
1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
2nd Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Jenna Gibson (UK | Duotone Windsurfing)
4th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)
5th Mae Davico (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails)
Result 2026 PWA World Tour - Men’s Slalom X
1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | FMX Racing / North Sails)
3rd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins)
5th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
6th Jimmy Thieme (FRA | FMX Racing / Point-7)
7th Taty Frans (NB | Future Fly / Point-7)
8th Bruno Martini (ITA | WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins)
9th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
10th Lohan Jules (GPE | AV Boards / S2Maui)
Result 2026 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom X
1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / NeilPryde / Z Fins)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | FMX Racing / North Sails)
3rd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / North Sails / Z Fins)
5th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
6th Jimmy Thieme (FRA | FMX Racing / Point-7)
7th Taty Frans (NB | Future Fly / Point-7)
8th Bruno Martini (ITA | WeOne / S2Maui / Z Fins)
9th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
10th Lohan Jules (GPE | AV Boards / S2Maui)