After the freestylers in particular got their money's worth at the beginning of the week ( HERE you can read the report), the focus on the seventh and eighth day of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup in Tauranga, New Zealand, was on the FreeFly Slalom discipline.
With wind conditions between 12 and 20 knots, the conditions were perfect for this discipline. In Elimination 2, two top favourites, Italy's Francesco Cappuzzo and France's Bastien Escofet, both made mistakes. Cappuzzo missed out on the final due to a crash, while Escofet showed nerves at the flying start and crossed the line too early. This left the door wide open for the reigning slalom world champion Titouan Galea, who secured victory in this elimination.
In Elimination 3, Bastien Escofet in particular surfed with a lot of anger in his stomach and quickly found his rhythm again. Francesco Cappuzzo was also fast as usual and finished in second place. Also strong: Camille Bouyer, who took two third places in a row.
Before Elimination 4, the course was adjusted by the regatta organisers. Now two of the so-called FreeFly sections had to be completed, in which the participants had to utilise the energy of the incoming waves and pump themselves over the course with a neutral wing position. However, Escofet was not fazed by the course adjustment and took the next victory ahead of Titouan Galea and Alan Fedit.
The men's ranking after four complete eliminations is as follows:
Wingfoil World Cup Tauranga - Suardiaz on the verge of a double victory
The ladies also showed off their skills in the FreeFly slalom. Due to the smaller number of participants, the eliminations are run as a "full fleet" here, with all participants taking to the course together and the placings being decided directly. At the end of day 8, a total of eleven eliminations were on the cards. Nia Suardiaz, who celebrated her first victory on the GWA World Tour in the freestyle discipline earlier in the week, was once again in top form. Suardiaz won five runs and took the top spot in the rankings ahead of the final day of the event. A big surprise was the performance of local heroine Aimee Bright, who had not previously made an international appearance. Bright took victory in two runs, was also consistent in other areas and is currently in second place ahead of Dutch rider Bowien Van Der Linden in her first ever event on the World Tour.
The women's ranking after 11 eliminations:
- Nia Suardiaz
- Aimee Bright
- Bowien van der Linden
- Orane Ceris
- Tatiana Grant
This means that the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Tauranga has already been a complete success. We are excited to see what the last day of the event will bring and will report back.
