Final event of GWA Wingfoil World Cup
French Onslaught in Brazil and Malo Guenole has the Championship in his sights
For Iffland, title number six had already been secured at the previous stop in Italy, but thedream of a fairy-tale victory on home soil meant there was no taking the foot offthe gas at theeighth and final competition. With Canada's Molly Carlson again applying the pressure, thedominant Aussie had to be at her imperious best to make it 30 wins in 37 starts ahead ofbeing crowned once more in front of her friends and family.
For the first time in 20 years, the GENERALI MÜNCHEN MARATHON will take place again with an international elite field on the 9th of October. Even the marathon world champion of 2015, Ethiopian Mare Dibaba, will be part of this traditional race in the heart of Munich. In the men's race, her compatriot Mengistu Zelalem is currently the fastest runner on the start list with a personal best of 2:08:48 hours.
Day 2 showed 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: 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: 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."
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The women were up first and Bruna Kajiya got the day started with her ever impressive clockwork style. But it was women’s tour leader and reigning world champion, Mikaili Sol, who hit the alarm for what was to come, opening her account with a huge stalefish slim 5 and then a 317 on trick four.
In the men's race, Manoel Soares had the chance to win his first world title. As the draw would have it, he faced second ranked rider Gianmaria Coccoluto in that quarter final, as well as Valentin Garat and a local ripper with a huge reputation, Erick Anderson. All Gianmaria Coccoluto could do at this event was keep winning his heats and hope that Soares would trip up before reaching the semi finals. Now it was in his hands, but even if he won the heat he’d need help from one of the others to push Manoel into third, and out of the competition. Coccoluto produced a performance for the ages. Attacking without fear, he ripped Taiba lagoon apart like never before. Soares led after two tricks, but started to slip as the Italian hit full beast mode, scoring two nines and then two tens in succession that sent goosebumps through the crowd and left the judges in awe. Having uncharacteristically caught a front edge on his third trick, Manoel started to look tense. He forced out a 319 and a 315 and then the backside 315 on his last trick attempt just wasn’t good enough to overtake in-form lagoon specialist, Erick Anderson, who went through to semis behind Coccoluto.
There are still three contenders for the title, but only two remain in the competition. Manoel now has to sit things out and wait to see if Gianmaria or Juan Rodriguez will win the event or not. Those two meet next in the semi-finals!
The journey for a later Freeride World Tour career starts with valuable points in the 1 and 2 star contests. The "bowl-like" wide face of the Wiedersberger Horn is described in the scene as the optimal terrain for fast, playful runs. In between you will always find one or the other cliff, which brings valuable points for the final result.
Yesterday, Europe’s premium freestyle event celebrated a premiere, for the first time ever Freeskiers were part of the event. The FIS World Cup made its first guest appearance at the LAAX OPEN 2023 with two sport disciplines – snowboarding and freesking. Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and World champion Marcus Kleveland (NOR) take home the LAAX OPEN Slopestyle titles, while Japanese Junior Olympic champions Ono Mitsuki (JPN) and Ruka Hirano (JPN) are the 2023 Halfpipe champions. The winning quartet has one common denominator - the first LAAX OPEN victory for all four!
Premier victories for Johanne Killi and Andri Ragettli at the FIS Freeski World Cup in LAAX. Reigning Slopestyle World Champion and local hero Andri Ragettli (SUI) wins ahead of Olympic Champions Alex Hall (USA) and Birk Ruud (NOR). No stranger to the LAAX victory podium is Johanne Killi. As the first LAAX OPEN Freeski winner, the Norwegian completes the loop to the European Freeski Open, held in LAAX in previous years where she won in 2014 as a newcomer.
The wind dropped just before the end of round three, but winning their heats and already advancing directly to round five were Juan Rodriguez, Maxime Chabloz, Gianmaria Coccoluto, Arthur Guillebert, Manoel Soares and Posito Martinez.
Juan Rodriguez (COL), currently lying in third on tour, was the first big name to test the waters against Belgian Goetgebuer and Egyptian Moussa. Maxime Chabloz banging home a win in R3 heat two that contained a high trick score of 8.33 for a massive 319. Only he and Coccoluto would break heat scores of 30 points on day one.
Gianmaria Coccoluto was up next in heat three, but had a testy fight on his hands against Luiz Alberto Cruz who can always bring the biggest tricks. The Domincan looked over powered and just couldn’t add in the extra poise and style we know him for. Cocco kept the pressure on and remained in control throughout.
The wind dropped too much to continue the event around 1pm local time, but having already reared up and looking in very relaxed form, doing just enough to also win their R3 morning heats were current tour leader Manoel Soares, 2021 World Champion Arthur Guillebert and powerful all-round kiter Posito Martinez.
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