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GWA Wingfoil World Cup Tarifa 2022 | Day Two

Thursday 13th October, 2022.
Words: Gemma Hamaini
Photos: Samuel Cardenas

Strong levante wind conditions allowed us to complete rounds 1 and most of 2 for the men, alongside the women’s quarter finals. The strong wind combined with the top athletes created a brilliant display of freestyle wingfoiling throughout the day. We witnessed a true battle of the generations, as the more experienced wingfoilers did their best to stand their ground as a whole new fleet of young riders came in to give them a run for their money.

Women’s Eliminations

The strong levante started to kick in at the start of the women’s quarter finals, reaching up to 25 knots. Experience in these tough Tarifa conditions, together with consistency proved to be key elements to advancing through this round. There were no surprises as all of our top seeded riders advanced through this round to the semi-finals. Nia Suardiaz, Paula Novotna, Flora Artzner and Bowien van der Linden all remained in the competition for an opportunity to take the win at this event. Bowien put on the best female performance of the day, with her toeside frontside 3 scoring her 5.30 points.

Men’s Eliminations

There were some stand-out performances for round 2, particularly from the younger riders who showed amazing determination and capability in the strong, difficult conditions. Axel Gerard rode a great heat, landing a 6.30 point front flip that allowed him to advance to Round 3. River Moore, 14 year old local rider, lost a very close heat with Xavi Corr in Round 1, so for Round 2 he showed even more determination, closing his heat with an impressive backflip scoring 7 points and giving him the opportunity to remain in the competition for Round 3. The highest scoring heat of Round 2 went to Frenchman Bastien Escofet, who achieved an overall score of 8.30 for his spectacular front flip. Round 2 finished with an outstanding performance from one of the youngest local riders, Nathan Berger, who defeated Riccardo Zorzi with an unstoppable display of riding which included a massive frontside 7 scoring him 8.4 points and allowing him a well-deserved spot in Round 3. 

The wind unfortunately dropped during the final heat of round 2, which will be continued tomorrow, as the levante wind is once again in the forecast for the coming days.

River Moore is a local 14 year old competitor who is competing at a World Cup event for the first time here at his home spot. “To compete here at my home spot is just incredible”, said River. “The wind today has been tricky, and it definitely picked up throughout the day. I just missed out on my first heat, but in my second heat I was fully powered on my 3 meter wing, and managed to land my tricks. The thing with wingfoiling is that we have race and freestyle, and it’s always fast no matter what. You can go high, the landings are awesome, and it’s just a great sport. It’s bringing a community together, joining people from kitesurfing and windsurfing together.” 

“Thanks to wingfoiling, it allows us more flexibility and adaptability for running competitions in tricky wind conditions such as the levante that we are experiencing here in Tarifa this week,” explained Head Judge Alvaro Onieva. “The most fascinating part of this sport is witnessing the interest and growth of a very young new generation. We are seeing amazing performances for the youngest riders, such as Berger, Moore, Roguet, Suardiez and Gerard amongst many more. The future of wingfoiling looks extremely bright.” 

We still have two more days of action ahead of us, so be sure to follow all of the regular updates from the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Tarifa.  

Follow all of the live scoring and live ladders from the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Tarifa here

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