Spain’s Nia Suardiaz third successive FreeFly-Slalom world title, while France’s Bastien Escofet landed his first. Suardiaz, still just 18, had a mixed season by her standards, but still got two crowns and is enjoying the journey. Escofet, 27, finally felt he got the rub of the green to get the world championship title at the third and final stop of the year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. They talked to Ian MacKinnon about their year’s ups-and-downs.
Nia Suardiaz (ESP) | 2025 GWA FreeFly-Slalom World Champion
Ian MacKinnon: It was quite a year. How do you look 2025 as a whole for you?
Nia Suardiaz: It has been a good year. No my best one. But definitely a good year, starting off the year winning this Wave world title. That was the highlight over a year, for sure. And then I had a pretty good season. Still not my best one, but still pretty happy about it.
IM: Let’s just go to the FreeFly-Slalom.You won that title again. Is it getting harder?
NS: That was a good season. I won every single event this year, but it’s getting harder. Kylie [Belloeuvrre] wants it a lot, I can see. But I’m still there winning it, so I’m happy. I think I want to win one more. It was really nice. We went to a new places, that was also really cool this year. We were in Abu Dhabi. It was really, really light wind. But I still enjoyed being in a new place.
IM: Were the light conditions in Abu Dhabi stressful?
NS: It was a bit stressful because I’m not used to that light wind. Also I’m not that good in light wind. Also on my first day I messed up two races. I’ve never done so badly. I could not afford that happening again. I refocused and won 3 or 4 races, so I was happy again.
IM: How do you refocus and reset and come back?
NS: It’s more something I do in my own head. I try not to focus and not let other people getting to my mind. Having a chill afternoon, having dinner and just being ready for the next day helps me.
IM: Everybody expects you to win everything, but this year it did’t go your way in Surf-
Freestyle. How do you cope with that?
NS: Yeah, everybody expects me to win, but I cannot win everything forever. For me, not winning doesn’t affect me that much. Because I still trained, I still did my best. It was not like I did it a bad job. I still think I competed well. I was a bit unlucky with my scoring. But that’s another point. I think I did a really good job I’m still on the podium, still happy.
IM: Does it take you a while to get over that or are you the sort of person who can shrug it off and move on?
NS: I didn’t really want to hear anything about it anymore. I was not really happy. A big factor was the scoring part and the thing about the judges, but I cannot change that at the end of the day. So I have to focus on what’s important now. Being upset about that is not my priority.
IM: We saw Marie Schlittenbauer come out of nowhere and do tricks like the guys to win the Surf-Freestyle title. Can you match that?
NS: Marie is a really good rider. She has tricks no other girl has. She rides with power. I would say I don’t think I have the power. I can’t get to that, so it’s going to be hard for me to win another Freestyle title. I think I’m still going try. But it’s not now my main priority to win. I want to win the Wave again. I think it’s gonna be another good season and if I’m on the podium in Freestyle I’m going to be happy.
Bastien Escofet (FRA) | 2025 GWA FreeFly-Slalom World Champion
Ian MacKinnon: Congratulations on the world title. How do you feel about it now?
Bastien Escofet: I’m really stoked about it. I’ve been working for it for the last three years pretty much. I was always just missing it. That’s two times third, and now finally I get the world title.
I’ve been working a lot on the gear and also myself: on my training and everything. I was looking for consistency on starts and also try to be the most symmetrical possible, on both sides; tacks and gybes and speed.
IM: Talk me through the year. You got a third and two seconds so it’s consistency in this that pays off?
BE: In Leucate I arrived really prepared looking for a good result and I got third. I was a bit bummed for that, because I was aiming for better. But still a good third place to start the year is not too bad. And Fuerte, at one point I was leading and I lost the lead right on the last race. So I was bummed with second place because I was really aiming for the first. After Francesco [Cappuzzo] won the first two events I thought the title had slipped through my hands again. I was training really hard before Abu Dhabi, for the light wind. I was ready for anything in Abu Dhabi. The weather because it’s really hot as well, and too work hard in 40°C is difficult.
IM: Do you think you need a little bit of good fortune to actually get the world title?
BE: Before this year I thought I was never really getting any luck. It was tough sometimes. It felt like the luck was on their side. But this time, yeah, the luck paid off from my side. Francesco missed out on the final. Second was enough for me to secure the title. I have to prepare a lot and try not to play on just luck. The goal for next year actually is absolutely not to rely on luck.
IM: It seems really difficult to get everything to come together? So much can go wrong.
BE: It’s always the same. It’s racing. Like, before the start line in AbuDhabi it was really shallow. So it was kind of having luck not to get stuck before the start. It’s luck and practising all mixing together.
IM: That final day in Abu Dhabi it was a bit crazy with people the like sailing the wrong course and everything?
BE: Yeah it was loads of ups-and-downs with me and Julien Rattotti tied on points if Fraccesco [Cappuzzo] was not there. It was a long day. At first I was not in the final. In race four I was not inside. Then everyone was over early and disqualified. That was the first lucky thing on my side. So, I got into the final. It was a crazy, crazy day.
IM: Do you find the pressure pretty intense?
BE: Yeah, my legs were shaking in Abu Dhabi.
IM: Looking to next year, what would you do to hopefully repeat this?
BE: I was really prepared this year, for pretty much any conditions and anything. But I’m going prepare even more. The goal all the time is to get better. So I’m just gonna be training a lot and tuning all my equipment. Just to be ready and get another title.
images: Lukas K Stiller / Svetlana Romantsova
