Challenger team rider Maciek Rutkowski on the PWA World Cup podium
Maciek Rutkowski, Challenger rider, made it on the podium for the first time in his career. He finished after 9 hard eliminations in 3rd position in the Hvide Sande PWA Slalom and won his first elimination in this discipline on the prestigious PWA World Tour. It’s one of the biggest highlights in his career, but as well in the history of Challengersails!! Maciek Rutkowski, Bruno Martini, Andrea Ferin, Claudio Badiali, Palmino Saraceni, Andrea „Principe“ Baldini, Giorgio Giorgi, Julien Pockrandt, Roberto Actis and everyone in the loft in Senigallia and Sri Lanka, who is involved in the development and R&D of the AERO9, one of the fastest racing sails on the market.
Last week the PWA Slalom was held in Hvide Sande, Denmark. 4 Challenger Riders did compete and Maciek Rutkowski won his first elimination in a Slalom World Cup and made it on the podium for the first time in his career.
“The 2019 Hvide Sande PWA World Cup is an event that will live long in the memory of Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) after the Pole earned his first podium on the world tour and Rutkowski did it in the best style possible by winning the last elimination of the week, which was also his first bullet on the world tour. In the last couple of events, Rutkowski really looks to have taken his sailing to the next level both mentally and physically as even when things haven’t gone his way he has remained calm and bounced back brilliantly. Rutkowski’s third place here sees him climb into the overall top 10 for the first time this season.“ PWA, Chris Yates, press officer
The fight for the final place of the podium was a two-man race between Maciek Rutkowski who was looking to earn his first podium, and Julien Quentel on the final day. In order for Rutkowski to defend his third place from the overnight rankings he would need to finish no worse than 3 places behind Quentel, but in the end the Pole would leave the result in no doubt by leading from start to finish in Elimination 9 to earn his first bullet on the world tour, whilst deservedly claiming his first podium to cap a fantastic week.
“The final… I guess everyone saw it. I was just focused on Julien, to try to get a better start then him, and never really thought about winning it. But once I saw I had a chance I pushed extra hard. And the rest is history…
I’m really proud to have gotten my first PWA slalom podium this way – on a 9 elimination event with all sorts of different conditions and coming down to the last race. I like the pressure and I like to think I thrive under pressure, but this was next level. The high you get after a performance like that… It’s hard to describe, hard to compare… but it would definetely be easy to get used to it!!“ Maciek Rutkowski about his first victory in a Slalom elimination and the first podium in the PWA World Cup
Result PWA Slalom Hvide Sande 2019:
1. Matteo Iachino (17.1 points)
2. Pierre Mortefon (27.1 points)
3. Maciek Rutkowski (42.7 points)
25. Bruno Martini (136.0 points)
28. Andrea Ferin (147.0 points)
55. Davide Fabbi (369.5 points)
Overall ranking PWA Slalom 2019 after 4 events (one more event to go):
1. Matteo Iachino
10. Maciek Rutkowski
22. Bruno Martini
29. Andrea Ferin
55. Davide Fabbi
88. Baptiste Gueguen
Maciek ist the best ranked Challenger rider in the Foil discipline on the PWA World Tour. He is ranked in 19th position and the final event will take place in Sylt from September 27 till October 6. The Slalom final will take place in Noumea, New Caledonia, November 18 till 23. Maciek can improve in the overall rankings in both disciplines.
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