JUSTINE LEMETEYER: HEAVEN AND HELL!JUSTINE LEMETEYER: HEAVEN AND HELL!Heading into the final day of the womens PWA Slalom Foil season, Justine Lemeteyer held what looked like an unassailable leadneeding only to avoid any major mistakes to secure both the event victory and the world title. It should have been a smooth, heavenly cruise to glory. Instead, the wheels began to come off. By the time the final race arrived, the championship had slipped out of Lemeteyers control after a truly hellish day on the water.In the end, Justine clinched the title by the skin of her teeth, but it was far from the triumphant finish she envisioned for her second consecutive world crown. To make matters worseher performance totally messed up our Windsurf predictions. We caught up with her to unravel exactly what went wrong on that roller-coaster final day of the season.WINDSURF: So, when you rocked up at the beach for finals day, you were the undisputed favourite to win the title. Talk us through what you thought how day was going to play out like.JUSTINE: In the morning I was feeling good and I was confident. And then the first final, I had a small mistake at the gybe and came back third, so it was all good. It was just a small slip up I was like OK, thats my hiccup.OVER EARLY MISUNDERSTANDING!And then for the next round, I had a misunderstanding with the committee where I understood I was over-early when I was not. I thought I saw the sign from the committee, everything, but in the end, there was no official announcement that I was.They did the over-early signal, but then they looked at the footage and said no, I was actually perfectreally perfectI knew I was on the edge. And then I dont know what I was thinking. I went straight back to the beach. I had misunderstood Ben van der Steen; the start line judge and I thought I was over. When I arrived at the beach and saw everybody telling me to go back. Everybody was telling me go back, go back! I tried to make it, but I saw everybody starting the race. I was like, f**k I tried to get to the line, but I missed the start. I could not believe what was happening I didnt do that, did i? Not today. Its not possible!Then I went back to Ben to clarify what had happened, I realized that I understood him wrong and I was like, oh f**k, not today. By the time I had reached the starting area, they were at the first mark, so I was done. So, I just talked with Ben trying to understand what just happened.And then I came back to the beach. I was angry. But I knew I had focus on the next one round. I managed to regroup I was just thinking I just need to win the next one. Ive done a mistake, its OK. I was like, this is my discard, its not the end of the world. So, the title race was still OK at that moment.THE FINAL ROUNDCATASTROPHE!I went to my semi. It was windy. I changed to my small sail, which was a good decision. So, I went back on the water feeling like usually Im better when Im angry, so I was using it to perform.And then yeah, I raced the semi-final with a solid start and great first gybe. I had a healthy lead, so I was like, its OK, just have to finish it. And then there was a gust like 15m before the third buoy. I saw it coming. I was focused. I was not fast. And then the foil goes up and upcrash! I was so close to the mark that the catapult brought me downwind of the mark. I was so unlucky.I was really feeling good and yeah, just out of nowhereit was gone. I was not even angry at that moment. I was just like, Im so unlucky. I was not even angry at myself because I was not pushing. I saw the gust coming.So I went back to the beach, looked at my dad. I was still not even angry. I was just in disbelief. I started packing and then I realised I had lost it. So, the emotions rose to the surface and I started crying!How did I possibly lose it with the lead I had? I was like, oh, Im going to have nightmares of that day for the rest of my life.WINDSURF: A lot of people on the beach thought Lina had won the titleJUSTINE: I even congratulated Lena. Yeah, poor Lena, everybody was sure she won. And then yeah. I was packing and then they just came over to tell me I had won and I could not believe what they were telling me. I thought they were coming to tell me Im vice world champion.And then they said I had won on countback. yeah, I couldnt believe it. It was just such a rollercoaster. I went from hell to heaven. I was totally emotional and overwhelmed.Now, Im still angry at myself for the day, I am not proud to win the title that way. Its more like, how the f**k did I do that? Thats what I am thinking right now. It was just like a nightmare. Yeah, everything that could go wrong went wrong. So now its done, I will take it from there and learn from it.WINDSURF: At least you cant really have a worse day than that, can you?JUSTINE: Thats what Im thinking. I dont really know what happened. There are so many things to process. I didnt sleep well the night before, so maybe that explains small mistakes like the catapult and the bad start misunderstanding. So yeah, theres many things to look at and try to learn from and understand why it all went wrong.Thats why I was angry. I did the perfect season up until the last day and for one bad day I was going to lose it. That was hard to process.Im relieved. Relieved and a bit angry at myself, but yeah relieved now.Yeah, it started off heaven, then it went to hell, then it went back to heaven. I cannot make it easy for myself, but it definitely brought some suspense!The post JUSTINE LEMETEYER: HEAVEN AND HELL! appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.