Reigning FreeFly-Slalom world champions suffered mix fortunes in defence of crowns on first day of action
GWA Wingfoil World Cup Abu Dhabi
28 October-02 November, 2025 | Fahid Island
The current FreeFly-Slalom world champions, Italy’s Francesco Cappuzzo and Spain’s Nia Suardiaz, got off to slow starts in Abu Dhabi as each looked to close out their third successive titles.
Both athletes came into the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Abu Dhabi ranked first in the FreeFly-Slalom title race after winning the first two stops on the season in Leucate, France, and Fuerteventura, in the Canaries.
But after making it to the first and only elimination round of the day, Cappuzzo failed to finish the race in the tricky conditions on the course just metres off Fahid Island’s Barbossa Beach.
In the women’s two races, Suardiaz suffered a similarly mixed outing. She failed to finish the first race and another error in the second race saw her slip to finish third, leaving her adrift in the rankings with key rival Kylie Belloeuvre in the lead with two wins.
Force a mistake
Suardiaz knew Belloeuvre was going to be her biggest obstacle to the title, but was confident she had the measure of the Frenchwoman ahead of the start of the action.
“My biggest rival is Kylie Belloeuvre,” said Suardiaz. “Right now she’s ranked number two. I’m currently ranked first, but since there’s no discard this year, I can’t really miss anything.”
In Suardiaz’s first race, she started well. But she was too tight to an early mark and dropped off her foil, allowing rivals to flood through. Belloeuvre came into Abu Dhabi ranked number two and gained most from Suardiaz’s mistake.
Belloueuvre kept her nerve to take the opening win. Spain’s Mar de Arce crossed the line second, with the Austrian, Viola Lippitsch, in third.
For Suardiaz, the day’s second race started much better and she had a healthy lead for much of the way. But the Spaniard was harried all the way by Belloeuvre, who was looking for every opportunity to pass and hoping to force a mistake.
Had a cushion
At the end of the pump track, Suardiaz cracked and Belloeuvre slipped past on the inside to take the win. On the race to line Suardiaz dropped another place to Lippitsch.
In the men’s slalom races, Francesco Cappuzzo, had an equally difficult opening. He knew had a cushion, but realised there was little scope for errors on his part.
“I’m in a easier spot where I don’t necessarily have to win to get the title,” said Cappuzzo. “For sure, I want to do good. But not having a discard applies a bit of pressure. It’s something I can deal with.”
The Italian made it to the first elimination round final, but after that things went awry and he failed to finish the race, leaving him in ninth place.
Costly error
Fellow Italian, Alessandro Tomasi, led almost all the way down the track and looked to have a good win in the bag. France’s Bastien Escofet never gave up, hoping for a passing chance.
Tomasi made a costly error as he rounded the final mark after the pump track, and crashed down. Escofet, ranked number two, flew past to take the win.
Escofet was followed over the line by the Italians, Sebastiano Zorzi, Nicoló Spanu, Riccardo Zorzi, and France’s Julien Rattotti. Tomasi finally limped home in sixth spot.
It is still early in the piece for the world champions, but the coming days’ action will no doubt deliver more upsets, thrills and spills.
words: Ian MacKinnon
images: Lucas K Stiller
Spot Info: Fahid Island, Abu Dhabi
Wind
Fahid Island is being developed as a purpose-built watersports’ facility and sits next to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island Marina, home of the Formula 1 circuit. The breezes in late October tend to be light-to-moderate, building to between 12 and 18 knots as the day goes on. The wind blows mainly cross-onshore from the north, with the seas remaining mostly flat in the bay sheltered by islands.
Weather
Sea temperatures in October and November are still warm, ranging from 28°C to 31°C, so board shorts and a rashie are all that is necessary on the water. The air temperature ranges from a low of 28°C overnight, to a high of 35°C in the day. Sunrise is at about 06.00 with sunset at about 18.40.
