2024 GWA Wingfoil World Cup Fuerteventura day 1 - Crashes, passes and neck-and-neck finishes
by GWA Media 21 Jul 22:45 BST
19-24 July 2024
Day one of competition starts with a streamlined elimination series and tour leaders Nia Suardiaz (ESP) and Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) showing why they're the benchmarking speed and pumping.
Fully maxed out on tiny foils in 30-plus knots of wind hitting 35 knots of speed. That was reality for the 14 women and 27 men competing in day one of the Freefly-Slalom in the Fuerteventura stop of the GWA Wingfoil World Tour. And the tour leaders wasted no time capturing early leads.
In its 36th running, the Fuerteventura World Cup is a legendary event that created the world's most decorated windsurfers and kiteboarders. Now with the GWA firmly established at Playa de Sotavento, GWA Wingfoil World Tour manager Tom Hartmann told the riders gathered in their bright pink and orange jerseys, "Now you're the stars of the stage."
Full-on at full speed
Tour officials decided to start the event with two Freefly-Slalom elimination rounds as high tide and corduroy-textured turquoise water greeted riders at midday. It was a day full of with hard-core, spray-filled crashes and even a few starting disqualifications. Riders who are focused on the Surf-Freestyle discipline would have to wait for later in the event to compete.
This is the second stop for the Freefly-Slalom discipline this year. True to form, Nia Suardiaz, who won the Leucate tour stop, cruised through both elimination rounds to stand almost 10 points ahead of second-ranked Kylie Belloeuvre (FRA).
"I was on a 3.0 [square-metres wing] and a 550 [cms] front foil," said a relaxed Suardiaz on the beach after her first elimination round win. When asked what size foil stabilizer (back foil) she was using, she laughed. "I really don't know."
Photo finish
Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA), a slalom specialist and winner in Freefly-Slalom in Leucate like Suardiaz, didn't dominate the day but came close, winning elimination round one.
In the last heat of the day, the round two finals, Three riders, Cappuzzo, Bastien Escofet (FRA) and Jose "Gollito" Estredo (VEN), had sliced and diced their way through the group and ended up hammering across the finish together. Estredo edged out the others and shook up the form book, but Cappuzzo still holds top rank in qualification over Escofet and Julien Rattotti (FRA).
Fair play format
Fuerteventura is showcasing a streamlined format for Freefly-slalom that uses multiple elimination series, each with their own finals, to determine a final elimination round. This new format offers a more fair result for riders and allows organisers to finish the event at any stage of qualification.
A second day of fast Freefly-Slalom is expected for Sunday as organisers hope to complete at least four full elimination rounds before moving into a final elimination round that includes a four-rider final heat. Winds should be ripping the sand off the beach again setting stage for more wild slalom action.