NEWS: NEXT LEVEL ACTION AT FUERTEVENTURA!

The world’s best have come together this week-end on the spot of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands for yet another display of the phenomenal evolution of wing foiling in the Surf-Freestyle division!

The famous Canarian spot which is celebrating 35 years of involvement in watersports with the annual contests of the windsurfing’s elite and more recently, many kitesurfing events, offered the best wing foilers on the planet ideal conditions to show the very high level at which wing foiling is at today. The leaps forward from the entire field in between each event are nothing shy of spectacular. This means there are no more “easy” heats for the favorites. To move on to the next round, you have to perform your tricks flawlessly, send harder than ever and be on the forefront of innovation.

Training, progression and big scores

In this context where the level is constantly rising, training hard and having your tricks on lock is essential to perform on competition day. The training sessions of the GONG team, reinforced by a lot of young talents in recent weeks, are a stimulating environment for our riders which all come with a different bag of tricks. The progress is visible in training and pays off in competition, as illustrated by the performance of Sofia Marchetti. During her quarter-final heat, the young Italian perfectly executed tricks worked on during her last training. Namely a solid toeside FS360 that she had landed for the first time the day before, following advice of the team. A very strong heat that earned her a W next to her name and a place among the best in the semi-final. She eventually came just short for the final but showed great form, very promising for the rest of the season. The final victory went to the young Spaniard Suardiaz, only 16 years old, who finished in front of the reigning world champ, the Dutch Bowien van der Linden.

Higher, stronger, faster

For both the women and the men, the level is constantly rising and the tricks that could make the difference only a few events ago now only earn average scores. In addition, as we have witnessed since the beginning of the sport, competitors have to face young and rising talents pushing the limits, unfazed by the pressure and surprising the whole tour with mind-boggling tricks. So to make it through your heat you need to bring your A-game to the table which is exactly what Max Robinson managed to do against the young guns he was up against in his first round. A solid performance from the 32-year-old veteran who eventually had to settle for a 4 round finish after losing steam in a close heat against the legendary Balz Müller.

Throughout the event, the final heat scores were both very high and very close, with riders taking advantage of the number of trick attempts allowed by the heat format to improve their scores. In the quarter-finals, 8 attempts were allowed for 4 scoring tricks. A level of competition that saw three pillars of the GONG team compete against each other, Malo Guénolé, the reigning champion, Clément Hamon, the under-16 champion, and Bastien Escofet who marked a turning point in competition with the first ever combo landed in competition during the Leucate event a few months back. A heat that was no exception in regards to the close finishes with the 4 competitors, Malo, Clément, Bastien and the young Nathan Berger, separated by only a couple of points on the buzzer. Malo won the heat by a thin margin over Bastien, notably thanks to a solid Backflip/FS3 combo. Clément finished just behind the leading duo despite a very solid performance considering that his goofy stance did not help him to take advantage of the kickers.

In the final, we had the top performers of the weekend with Chris McDonald, Malo Guénolé, Axel Gerard and Jérôme Cloetens. Bastien Escofet came one trick short of reaching the final when crashing on a spectacular attempt of his trademark one-handed grabbed backflip. While Malo got off to a great start in the final, adding score after score in the excellent range, his rivals for the title had a hard time nailing their best tricks… But perseverance paid off as Chris landed a 1080 on his third attempt. Imitated by Axel with a frontside 1080 of his own. As he did all event long, Jérôme continued to put on a show with a superb Radiculo 7. This flurry of tricks made for a very close leaderboard in the dying minutes, Malo narrowly losing the lead in favor of Chris. The reigning world champ then made use of his last two attempts to try a Backflip into Backflip combo that he had landed the day before in training. A trick that would have been a world first in competition, handing him the lead back but it wasn’t to be as he couldn’t keep it together on the second backflips. Jérôme then landed another Radiculo 7, improving his previous score, to steal second place from Malo by a few tenths of a point. A stunning final which consecrates the American Chirs McDonald and incredible performances from all the competitors. One thing is for sure, the next Surf-Freestyle event is gonna be a must watch!

In the meantime, the event is still on in Fuerteventura with the Freefly-Slalom heats, broadcasted live on the GWA website.