After a few days of no wind we finally got competition underway here in Germany and it was an exciting day of thrills and spills.
The wind was here all day but not an ally to all with off-shore gusty conditions creating areas that were better than others and it was up to the riders to find them and adapt to the conditions.
In the trials it was the French rider Laura Jaubert who stormed to victory and advanced into the main event in the first heat scoring more than double any of her opponents after starting with 3 strong tricks. She was followed in second place by Isabeau Galiart who had a bad start to the heat but managed to adapt her riding and positioning to get second place in the end. It was Great Menardo who wrapped up third place with the shock elimination of Dioneia Viera who just could not get the pops she was looking for in the zone.
The second heat and a place in the main event went to Annabel van Westerop who found herself in her first ever qualifiers due to missing the previous event and took the win with a huge score of 23.5 (the highest female score of the day). She was followed by Francesca Bagnoli and Leonie Finke with the young Suami Cavallo going out as she struggled to get to grips with the conditions.
This left a final heat of six girls to battle it out for a single place in the final and it went right down to the wire between Francesca Bagnoli and Isabeau Galiart, both riders performing well but Isabeau just edging out Francesca with her last trick. It was scenes of joy for Isabeau but masses of sympathy for Francesca who once again missed out on the main event by a whisker and we all know is such a talented young rider who really deserves her chance.
The main event saw just the first round heats run at the end of the day. the wind was picking up and the sun was starting to go down and it was Hannah Whiteley, coming back of a scary head injury recently to seal the victory. She was without a crash and managed to land all her tricks but one, with a high scoring back-mobe which was extremely low and pleased the judges.
Paula Novotna sealed second place with Annabel van Westerop claiming third.
In the second heat there was a big upset as Bruna Kajiya struggled to land the tricks she was after and fresh from her trials victory and full of confidence it was Isabeau Galiart who seized the opportunity and stormed to victory with a 17.04 much the delight of her family and friends and those on the beach. Pauline Valesa claimed second with a high scoring 6.17 s-bend pass at the very end and Bruna Kajiya came in third.
All the riders from the main event will have a second chance tomorrow but Galiart, Valesa, Whiteley and Novotna going straight through to round three. The wind is looking lighter but we are confident there will be competition.
