Sarah-Quita Offringa and Antoine Albeau successfully fend off the rest of the fleet on a windy closing day of the 2015 Ulsan PWA World Cup.

With two eliminations in the pocket and a forecast that could go either way, the top spots at Jinha Beach were far from locked in as we moved into the final day of the event. As the day started of cool and overcast, there was no guarantee the thermal winds would actually come through. But the Jinha Beach wind machine switched back on around lunchtime, setting the stage for another round of slalom fireworks.

Men’s

First up were the men and after the first heat passed without incident, the second heat saw a massive upset as no less than four sailors went over early - and they were big names at that. Cyril Moussilmani, Malte Reuscher, Andrea Ferin and Finian Maynard all jumped the gun and were done for the day. The premature start was especially upsetting for Moussilmani, who was looking to have his revenge for his early first round exit.

Soon thereafter though, it turned out none of the male sailors would be able to make a dent in rankings, as the wind dropped and the men were released for the day and therefor the event. That meant yesterday's standings remained as they were with Antoine Albeau winning the first title of the year, Pierre Mortefon in second and Josh Angulo in third.

Women’s

With the men's competition wrapped up, the bay belonged to the girls for the rest of the afternoon. And as luck would have it, conditions just seemed to get better and better. The first rounds saw the usual suspects go through to the final, featuring Sarah-Quita Offringa, Marion Mortefon, Ayako Suzuki, Cagla Kubat, Valérie Ghibaudo, Fulya Ünlü, Delphine Cousin, Lena Erdil, Mio Anayama and Marion Dusart. Ghibaudo deserves a bow for rocking up at the starting line today with a broken rib after a bad crash yesterday, which clearly couldn't stop her from competing. But it was Erdil who lead the pack over the line and towards the first mark, with Offringa breathing down her neck. At the first mark, the runner-up from both the first and second elimination expertly squeezed out Offringa just before they went around the first inside buoy. Erdil kept her lead and extended it throughout the race, snatching victory from under Sarah-Quita Offringa's nose and with it pole position in the event.

But Erdil would have to hold off on celebrating, as the wind was still pumping and the call was made to do one more round. Before it came to that, it was María Andrés, Haruna Furusawa and Nimet Tulumen who got first, second and third in the losers final.

The fourth round final was a showdown between Erdil, Unlu, Cousin, Ghibaudo, Dusart, Offringa, Kubat, Suzuki, Anayama and Lescadieu. But the biggest battle was between Erdil and Offringa, both gunning for Korean gold. Right from the start, it was SQ Offringa who dictated the pace, while Erdil didn't have the best of starts. Offringa extended her lead throughout the race, with Delphine Cousin in second and Erdil watching her hopes for the event title shatter from third position. Offringa's first position in the fleet was never in any danger and the Aruban crossed the finish line not only the winner of the heat, but of the event as well.

Closing heat of the day as the Elimination 4 loser's final, which went to Marion Mortefon, with María Andrés coming in second and Annika Valkna in third place.

And here are a few words from Sarah-Quita Offringa:

Packing up now and leaving for Europe soon. Korea turned out to be a great event. We waited 4 days before we got to race and this really built up the tension between the sailors. But the final two days, we managed to sail and finish four eliminations. It was incredibly tight between Lena Erdil, Fulya and me as we all held first place for a while. I've sailed really consistent for my standards as I finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 1st.

I started out on my new 2015 iSonic 110 and 7.8m² with a 39 cm fin. In the final, the wind picked up and got quite strong and I finished in 3rd place. Afterwards, I got on my 7.0m² and iSonic 97 with a 35 cm fin and was flying. I won that race and was tied with Fulya for first place but since I had the last best result, I would get the event win if we stopped there.

On the next day, it was very nerve-wrecking as it started out really cloudy and nobody expected it to be windy. If we didn't sail, I would get the event win. If we did, I would have to defend my position. Mind over matter! In Korea, you must always expect the unexpected: the wind picked up at 2 PM. It was up and down and I had to resail my heat four to five times due to lack of wind. But then it suddenly came up and stayed. We had two more races on 7.8m² and iSonic 110. In the final, Lena had a great start and was just not letting anybody past her. I finished 2nd behind her. Here, I thought it was over but at the beach they said they were going for one more elimination. I wasn't ready for it mentally because I had already settled for 2nd place, but getting another chance like that is unique. I managed to keep it together in the qualifying round. And then in the final when it counted most I kept my cool and had a good start! It was like a dream, I couldn't believe that I was actually finishing that race in first and taking the event win. Sweeet!!! Couldn't have had a better start to my year. Feeling fast on my boards! Next event will be in Turkey in August. See ya!

And there you have it. The 2015 PWA World Tour Slalom season has got off to a flying start, with Antoine Albeau taking a first step to a world title hat trick in the men's fleet, and Sarah-Quita Offringa proving she's the woman to beat on the women's side. With two rounds completed for the men and four for the women, the event's top 10 and the current overall rankings are as follows:

Overall Results Ulsan PWA Slalom World Cup - Men’s

1st Antoine Albeau2nd Pierre Mortefon3rd Josh Angulo4th Ross Williams5th Pascal Toselli6th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel7th Matteo Iachino8th Arnon Dagan9th Marco Lang10th Steve Allen

Overall Results Ulsan PWA Slalom World Cup - Women’s

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Lena Erdil3rd Fulya Unlu4th Delphine Cousin5th Cagla Kubat6th Ayako Suzuki7th Maria Andres8th Mario Mortefon9th Mio Anayama10th Marion Dusart

Antoine Albeau and Sarah-Quita Offringa reign supreme as Jinha Beach delivers the goods and then some. After four days of waiting, the thermal winds finally came through, allowing for not just one, but two completed eliminations for both the men and the women. When the smoke cleared, it was the Frenchman and the Aruban who came out ahead, but closely followed by the rest of the pack.

At the strike of noon, the race crew's wind meters hit sufficient values to call the first sailors to the starting line. Dead set on getting a result after the first four windless days, no time was wasted to get the competition underway. For a moment, it looked like it was going to be a long day as the first two heats were both canceled twice due to insufficient wind. But not much later, the wind evened out and it would turn out to become a completely different kind of long day.

Men's Elimination 1

Up until Heat 4 of the Men's Elimination 1, it was pretty much business as usual without any major upsets or surprises. But then 2014 Vice World Champion Cyril Moussilmani collided with Andrea Cucchi at the very last mark of his heat and went down, preventing him from advancing into the next round. It then wasn't until the quarterfinals when another big contender saw his chances of first elimination gold shatter, as Ben van der Steen had to settle for 7th place in his quarterfinal.

The semifinals got underway in properly windy conditions and saw the usual suspects do their jobs, with Arnon Dagan, Pierre Mortefon, Julien Quentel, Steve Allen, Antoine Albeau, Ross Williams, Pascal Toselli, Alexandre Cousin and Antoine Questel securing their spots in the first final of the day.

But just as the crowds had gathered on the beach to witness the clash of the slalom titans, disaster seemed to strike. Twice in a row, the men's winners final got canceled due to lack of wind at the first mark. But it's third time lucky as they say, and the third time around the wind did indeed hold and it was game on. Right from the start it was all or nothing for the riders as first Dagan and Quentel and then Williams nearly lost control in a gust right at the starting line. All three managed to recover and screamed down to the first mark together with the rest of the pack. Toselli reached it first, followed closely by Mortefon, Albeau and Cousin. As the first four riders blasted off from the mark, the remaining four got caught in a wind hole for a brief moment. The world held its breath in fear for a third cancellation, but this time the flag stayed down. On the way to the second buoy, Mortefon overtook Toselli, putting himself firmly in the lead. Toselli then had to watch Albeau slip past him into second place. But the worst for Toselli had yet to come as he went down at the last mark, taking Cousin down with him. Steve Allen took advantage and moved into third, followed by Toselli who had to settle for fourth. But the well-deserved victory went to Pierre Mortefon, taking his first elimination with Albeau coming in second.

The losers final went to Josh Angulo thanks to a strong performance. Second place was for Antoine Questel and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel claimed third.

Women's Elimination 1

In the women's fleet, two big names unexpectedly crashed out in the first round as both 2014 World Champion Delphine Cousin and Valérie Ghibaudo failed to proceed into the final. Those who did make it were Sarah-Quita Offringa, Lena Erdil, Esther de Geus, Ayako Suzuki, Sayaka Iwai, Fulya Ünlü, María Andrés, Annika Valkna, Haruna Furusawa and Océane Lescadieu.

It was Unlu who took the lead right from the start and held on to it all the way to the finish line. Her compatriot Erdil chased her in second with Offringa not far behind. But the PWA Youth World Champion wouldn't have any of it and consolidated her lead with every mark she rounded to impressively win her first elimination, ahead of Erdil and Offringa.

Delphine Cousin redeemed herself by winning the loser's final, ahead of Marion Mortefon and Cagla Kubat.

Men's Elimination 2

When two days ago we would have been happy to just complete a single elimination, the conditions today were simply too good to call it a day after just one. And so without delay the second elimination got underway. First big name to drop of the list was Van der Steen. The winner of last year's closing event hit the proverbial wall in the quarterfinals, followed by Dagan in the semis together with first elimination winner Mortefon and Toselli.

The second elimination finalists were Cyril Moussilmani, Ross Williams, Marco Lang, Josh Angulo, Antoine Albeau, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Matteo Iachino and Jordy Vonk. Right from the horn, Iachino took the lead, followed by Lang and Jordy Vonk. Albeau and Williams were quite far down in the field after the first mark. At the second mark, the pressure got the best of Lang who crashed and saw Angulo slip into second place. Iachino kept his cool and with it the lead rounding the third mark and on his way to the final mark. Angulo still in second and Jordy Vonk in third. But at the last mark, the young Dutchman slipped up and fell and had to watch the entire fleet fly by. Nothing Iachino was too worried about as he clinched the second elimination ahead of Angulo and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel.

In the loser's final it was Mortefon who won his second final of the day, albeit the loser's one. Second and third were for Toselli and Dagan respectively.

Women's Elimination 2

In the women's fleet, the marquee players did what they had to do to claim their ticket to the winners final. Making it through were Lena Erdil, Sarah-Quita Offringa, Delphine Cousin, Esther de Geus, Mio Anayama, Fulya Ünlü, María Andrés, Cagla Kubat, Marion Mortefon and Ayako Suzuki. It was Offringa who had the best start, arriving at the first mark in the lead. Erdil and Unlu were chasing her down, completing the same top three that won the first elimination final. The three top women never gave up their podium places, meaning the top slot for the women is tied as both Sarah-Quita Offringa and Unlu have got a first and a third and Erdil two second spots. The rule to break such a tie is to award victory to the sailor who won the last elimination, which in this case was Sarah-Quita Offringa.

In the loser's final, it was Marion Dusart who took first place, followed by Océane Lescadieu in second and Nimet Tulumen in third.

There's a good chance we'll get another day of wind tomorrow, so it's still all up for grabs here at the 2015 Ulsan PWA World Cup. Check the action in the image gallery and the highlight video later today and join us again tomorrow morning for the final day of the first slalom stop on the 2015 PWA World Tour.

- Text and pictures are courtesy of John Carter / PWA World Tour -