The 38th Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam completed ten consecutive days of competition in Sotavento, where Sarah-Quita Offringa, Justine Lemeteyer and Matteo Iachino claimed the women’s freestyle and Slalom X world titles. Lennart Neubauer won the men’s freestyle event and moved to the top of the tour standings ahead of the season finale. Gusts exceeding 50 knots, heavy swell and difficult water conditions made the programme, held from 17 to 26 July, one of the most demanding in recent years.
The competition forms part of a project launched in 1986 by René Egli with the support of Pájara Municipal Council. Four decades later, Fuerteventura retains one of only two Grand Slam events on the Professional Windsurfers Association -PWA- calendar in 2026. Support from the Fuerteventura Island Council, the municipal authorities, Meliá Hotels and the organising team makes it possible to stage men’s and women’s freestyle and Slalom X at a venue that uses sport to showcase the island’s natural conditions internationally.
Sotavento makes extreme wind part of the event
The conditions allowed competition on every scheduled day, but required the athletes to manage sustained winds, gusts approaching or exceeding 50 knots and swell that made even routine manoeuvres difficult. The organisers alternated between different courses and brought back the ‘Downwind of Death’, a long-distance format in which the entire fleet races simultaneously. Crashes, falls and sudden changes of position made physical endurance and adaptability as important as outright speed.
Fuerteventura has historically served as a testing ground within professional windsurfing. In 1997, it hosted one of the first modern freestyle trials, while the first Super X event was held there in 2003. The obstacle-based slalom discipline anticipated some of the features now found in Slalom X. The 2026 edition continued that role through different racing formats, new classifications based on athlete weight and broadcast coverage designed to convey the speed and difficulty of the courses.
Three world champions and a new freestyle leader
Offringa had to fight back after Maaike Huvermann won the women’s Single Elimination. The Aruban then defeated her rival twice in winds of around 40 knots to secure her 17th freestyle world title and the 29th world crown of her career. She also extended an unbeaten run in Fuerteventura dating back to 2008. “It is great to be challenged so hard. The level of all the women is rising rapidly, so I had to produce my best to meet that challenge,” she explained. In the men’s competition, Neubauer finished ahead of Yentel Caers and Balz Müller. The victory did not secure the world title, but moved him into the lead before the championship is decided in Sylt, Germany.
Lemeteyer produced the main comeback in the women’s Slalom X. After an inconsistent start, she won seven of the final nine eliminations, including all four races on the decisive day, to claim her first world title in the discipline and the third of her career. “In the past, I always found a way to make things go wrong on the final day, but this time I did exactly the opposite,” she said. Femke van der Veen finished second, while Jenna Gibson, winner of the opening three races, placed third after competing while affected by a virus. Iachino won five of the first seven men’s eliminations and secured the championship with second place in the final race. The Italian became the first athlete to take the Slalom X world crown away from Pierre Mortefon and collected his fourth PWA world title.
A platform extending beyond the competition
The sporting programme introduced divisions designed to recognise different physical profiles. Bobbi-Lynn De Jong, fourth in the women’s standings at the age of 16, won the under-55kg category, while Brendan Lorho prevailed in the men’s under-80kg division. The initiative allows athletes to compare their performances within more evenly matched groups without changing the overall standings. Alongside the competition, the Global Windsurfer Quest, developed by the PWA and Waterspeed, extends participation beyond Fuerteventura. From June to December, every kilometre recorded by users through the app contributes to a global leaderboard open to the windsurfing community.
The conclusion of the PWA programme does not mark the end of the Fuerteventura World Cup. Activity continues until 1 August with the Global Wingsports Association -GWA- wingfoil competitions, featuring men’s and women’s FreeFly-Slalom and Surf-Freestyle. Bringing the two tours together maintains sporting activity, international coverage and the fan programme in Sotavento for more than two weeks. After 38 editions, the event is no longer limited to crowning champions: it combines different disciplines, connects professional competition with the wider community and maintains Fuerteventura’s position as an established venue for wind sports.
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