Congratulations taty pwa freestyle podersdorf event winner

"CURRENTLY THE BEST FREESTYLER IN THE WORLD"

The 2010 Podersdorf Surf World Cup – Event Summary

Taty Frans proves he's the man to beat after claiming his crown with emphatic style ahead of Belgian boy wonder, Steven Van Broeckhoven, and the 2009 world champion, Jose 'Gollito' Estredo, at the first stop of the world tour on Lake Neusiedl.

Following a year's break from freestyle, the town of Podersdorf played host to the PWA's finest style masters for their first event of 2010. The sun didn't stop shining throughout the opening weekend, which gave a group of elite show offs the opportunity to perform in front of thousands of crazy Austrian party goers. Unfortunately, the wind wouldn't play ball, but this didn't stop six of the PWA's stars from busting out their best moves to plenty of beachside beats for the crowds.

After five windless days at the Neusiedlee see, on the sixth, the wind gods awoke, and with an early rise for all, a full single elimination of flipping, sliding, and styling took place. The action packed morning allowed those that had trained hard all winter to prove their worth against the freshest fleet of freestylers on the planet.

Official Competition
The super slick and super stylish, Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails), stormed his way to victory on the final day of the Surf World Cup, Podersdorf, to make it two in a row, following his previous event win in Sylt.

Taty started off his mass cull by out tricking Italian PWA veteran, Raimondo Gasperini (Starboard, Severne). At 43, the living legend was the oldest competitor in Podersdorf, but his years of experience were no match for the boy from Bonaire.

Next up, Taty took down newcomer to the tour, Dieter Ven der Eyken (Starboard, Severne). Despite Ven der Eyken's exciting foray of freestyle trickery, Taty's display of exuberant style scored more highly with the international judging panel, allowing him a golden ticket to the next round.

The quarterfinal was without a doubt, the heat of the day. Taty was pitched in a play off against his brother, Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) for a place in the semi finals. But, also on the water, in a separate heat, was their best buddy from Bonaire, Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra), who was up against, an on form, Maarten Van Ochten (JP, NeilPryde). It was like any other day down at Lac Bay, Bonaire for the boys, with moves aplenty and whoops and cheers for the best tricks laid down. The atmosphere throughout the entire heat was electric, and surely provided enough footage for a full feature length movie.

Taty managed to nudge ahead of his brother, which meant he had to beat Thode to claim his place in the winner's final. After another display of kono's, culo's, and other body contorting moves, Taty forced his way through.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, having already taken down the 2009 world champion, many thought that the king of pop, Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2, Gaastra) was simply unstoppable. Taty had other thoughts though and pulled out plenty of power moves to nudge ahead and take the title in Podersdorf.

Results
1st Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2, Gaastra)
3rd Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic, North)
4th Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra)
5= Maarten Van Ochten (JP, NeilPryde)
5= Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North)
5= Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra)
5= Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun)

Crowd Pleasers
Tom Hartman ensured that thousands of Podersdorf's partygoers went away with windsurfing at the forefront of their minds. With little wind, and the world's best, he had a master plan that would prove extremely entertaining.

On Saturday he anchored his huge jump ramp yards from the beach and gathered a crew of riders that would be crazy enough to hit it following a tow-in from a jet ski. The daredevils included the infamous Frans brothers, Van Broeckhoven, local hero Max Matissek (Fanatic, North), and flying Frenchman Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun). The riders put on a crowd pleasing performance rotating round some fantastic air flakas and perfect forwards.

On Sunday the same crazy crew took tow-in to the next level with a freestyle competition on the mirror calm waters of the Neusiedlee see in ankle deep water. The guys performed a dynamic display of trickery in an attempt to claim their share of the extra €1000 prize pot put forward by the organisers. Van Broeckhoven claimed the largest chunk of cash, with Taty a close second, and Akgazciyan third.

What's next?
We move forward to Ulsan, Korea where the 2010 slalom world tour kicks off on the 15th May. Be sure to check out www.pwaworldtour.com where you'll be able to keep up with all of the action via the live ticker and the live elimination ladders, you'll also be able to view awesome daily picture galleries, and read daily news summaries direct from the beach. For more information contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com.


The 2010 Podersdorf Surf World Cup - Day 6

An early morning of explosive action allowed the born and bred styler from Bonaire, Taty Frans, to claim his crown in Austria.

Results
1st Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2, Gaastra)
3rd Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic, North)

The 2009 Colgate world cup winner, Taty Frans proved that he's currently the best freestyler in the world having beaten Steven Van Broeckhoven in a nail biting single elimination final on Lake Neusiedl today. Both competitors were pulling out all the stops in order to become the Podersdorf freestyle champion, but in the end, there could only be one winner.

Although the conditions were extremely tough during the final, Frans still managed to pull off technically difficult moves such as his finely executed culo. Van Broeckhoven tried to match him with a huge diversity of moves from lollipops to cana bravas, but he couldn't quite keep up with Taty's unique style, which continues to turn heads the world over.

Words Of A Champion
"Winning here in Podersdorf is like a dream come true. I never thought I could win in these conditions against the likes of Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra), my brother Tonky, and Steven Van Broeckhoven because they're all so good when it's light. I don't know if I should be happy or not, but I do feel like I'm flying right now - I've won two in a row! I'm really looking forward to the next event in the Canaries, see you there!" Taty Frans

Standing Out
Spaniard Antxon Otaegui (JP/NeilPryde) raised the level during the first round when he landed what some people believe to be the most difficult move in modern freestyle, the regular stance chachoo. The next sailor to really make his mark was Brazilian Jao Henrique Barros Ferreira who stunned the crowds with a faultless no handed flaka, and a technically correct culo. When showman Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) launched into action, all eyes were glued on his gear. In his first heat he completed all of his moves with minutes to spare, allowing him the opportunity to play up to the people, and do what he does best - show off!

Hottest Heat
When you whittle the world's best down to the final eight, you expect extreme action. But, when you put the boys from Bonaire Tonky and Taty Frans, and Kiri Thode on the water all at the same time, and crank the wind up a few knots, you just don't know which way to look. Despite putting on a dynamic performance, Maarten Van Ochten (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) didn't really stand a chance against Thode who was being cheered on by his fellow island boys. The level went through the roof with countless culos, and outright awesome action. Podersdorf will no doubt see some Bonairean style celebrations tonight!

Biggest Move
Van Broeckhoven's Air Cana Brava performed in heat 22 against Four Dimension's star, Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North). The Belgian wonder boy has more pop than Lady Gaga right now. Watch out for more full on air tricks throughout the summer.

Best Newcomer
One of the freshest faces on the tour is that of another Belgian youngster, Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard, Severne). He dominated his first few heats, taking down local Austrian hot shot, Max Matissek (Fanatic, North) with a finely executed bob. He then moved on to take the scalp of Tricktionary genius Michael Rossmeier (Loft) with an array of smooth slides, including a switch chachoo, and half bob. However, luck wasn't on Van der Eyken's side as he qualified into the final sixteen to meet Taty Frans. Despite putting in 110%, he couldn't quite match Taty's incredible island style. There's no shame in going out to someone who's won the last two world cup events though!

Surprise Of The Day
Wind. Following five days of waiting around, most of the competitors had lost all hope of the competition actually running. Duncan Coombs and his team had other thoughts though, as did the wind gods. At the 05:30 skippers briefing freestyle's finest were told to prepare themselves for the start of the 2010 world tour. This came as a bit of a shock to some of the professionals, including Belgian's new wonder boy, Steven Van Broeckhoven, who'd been propping the bar up until the early hours!

Living Legend
Most people think world cup level freestyle is just for helium filled, double-jointed kids with elastic bones. It's clearly not though because forty three year old Raimondo Gasperini (Starboard, Severne) from Italy entered this event, and put up a solid fight as he flew through his first heat. Unfortunately he met Taty in the second round so was stopped dead in his tracks, but it just goes to show that freestyle is a discipline for all ages.

That's it for the action here in Podersdorf. For more information click on www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries
• Browse awesome action photo galleries

There's also a dedicated event website for fans at www.surfworldcup.at

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

PWA/Paul Griffiths