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MARK OF A CHAMPION // MARION MORTEFON

A PWA World Champion in slalom and foil racing, French racer extraordinaire, Marion Mortefon, shares the secrets of her success in windsurfing and life.

WORDS – MARION MORTEFON // PHOTOS – John Carter / pwaworldtour.com

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Best

What is the most important for me is to be at the top of what I can do, give everything, and train the maximum to maximize the chances of being the best.

Inspiration

I love to follow the women in surfing and tennis, they’re really inspiring. When I was younger I was a big fan of Karin Jaggi, who was the best in every discipline.

Decisions

The best decision was in 2016 when I decided to quit my process engineer job to try to become a professional windsurfer and give it my best shot, and I managed to do it. I have not had a worst decision in my professional windsurfing as ever since I started on that path I have no regrets.

Highs and lows

Highs for sure were my two last world titles, and winning any event is a great achievement. Lows I would say was during my Olympic campaign in iQFOiL, which I just stopped doing. It was a really amazing experience, with highs and lows, but I learned so much and it did a lot for my windsurfing skills.

Words to live by

Do what you want and dream big!

Motivation

I love to be outside – sun and water are my essentials. I love to change my training location and the sort of conditions I practice in. I don’t like routine. To keep motivation I need to move often.

Stress management

I focus on what I’m able to do, try to remove all the things I can’t control, and just think I’m able to do it. After years of competition, I’m used to the pressure, and most of the time I manage to be in a good place.

Strengths

I love always finding a solution to be better, to train better on my technique, but also to find the best set-up on my equipment. I’m also quite determined in everything I do.

Rivals

My relationship with my rivals depends on the people involved. It’s like in real life, some people you are friendly with and some you are not. I’m quite discrete, I’m not going to talk to everybody. But when I really know the people, and I like them, I can be really friendly! I’m used to competing against Sarah-Quita Offringa and Delphine Cousin Questel, and for years, we’ve never had any trouble between us, but we had some really great battles, always fair

Escape

When I’m home I love to meet my friends and do some other sports, like biking, kiting and surfing.
Winning or money?

Both are important I would say! Money will help you to win, but if you don’t win, you don’t get money, so at one point you need to get a bit! When I decided to quit my job, I knew I could live for one year with my savings from my jobs, so it was not so risky. I was young with a diploma, and knew also I could find super easily another job if windsurfing didn’t work out.

Power foods

I love to eat salty foods for breakfast – eggs tomatoes, ham and cheese, and my favourite meal when I want energy and comfort is pasta with spicy sausage.

Talent or hard work?

Mostly hard work! But my best quality is just my passion for windsurfing, and since the beginning it has brought me to where I am.

Training

My training is mostly 5 times a week a gym session around 1 to 2.5 hours and then almost every day on the water regardless of the wind. When I have just finished an event, since I’m a bit older, I love to take one week’s break to think about something else.

‘Rocky’ moment

I would say in Denmark in 2019, I was struggling all week and in the end I managed to climb on the podium at the last race; winning the last race was my only chance to get on the podium and I managed to do it!

2022 PWA slalom title

The deciding event in Japan went super good, winning from the beginning and day after day getting good results. I was super happy to be again at the top. I went to New Caledonia just after the event for some holidays and had a great party with my friends there to celebrate the win!