NEWS: MALO WINS THE WAVE EVENT IN BRAZIL!

The Surf-Freestyle world champion clinches his first victory in an event entirely dedicated to wave riding in Brazil!

A success that came as a surprise only to himself, as he had won his title last year, already in Brazil, thanks to a dominant performance in wave conditions in which he excels: onshore mush with a nasty shorebreak. A nice revenge on the cruel schedule conflict because of which he had to give priority to his high school exams over the first wave event of Ponta Preta!

  However, as reported by our recent Big Air World Champion, Julien Rattotti, the forecast raised fears of a sterile waiting period, but the surf and surf foil gear our team riders had packed for the trip gave way to action before the comp could get underway: “With the team, we managed to do only 2 small wing foil sessions over the first 10 days in a side-off wind of 10 knots which picked up at the start of the afternoon… A first round of heats was launched but interrupted before the end. Malo and Bastien managed to qualify in their heats. We had no wind but the waves were there, which allowed us to have very good surfing and surf foiling sessions, almost every day. We took advantage of glassy conditions every morning and beautiful sunset sessions in the evening. On the 11th day of the waiting period, the committee decided to move the event site and we had good conditions with 15-20 knots in about one meter waves.”  

  Resumption of the first round: On the 11th day, the competition resumed with the last heats of the first round. The wind finally joined the party and we witnessed superb surfing sequences from the competitors. Julien made it out the first round like his teammates had done before the long break, meaning they were all heading straight for the third round of heats. Malo, Bastien and Julien, who had stayed active in the waves all week long, only had turns and explosiveness on their mind. They all seemed in sync with the conditions, taking risks above the lip, which was rewarded with places in the quarter-finals for all of them.

  The quarter-finals: In the quarter-finals, unfortunately Bastien and Malo find themselves matched-up again as in the last event in the Canary Islands. Malo set the tone by opening with solid scores and took the lead in the heat, never looking back. As for Julien, he was facing the Hawaiian Cash Berzolla, a wave specialist, who got the better of the exchange with a total of 15 points, the two best waves counting for the final score. The semi-final: Malo managed to edge over Hugo Marin, a very tough competitor in this type of conditions. The heat was tight until the very end but Malo kept building his scores to secure the win. The final: In the final, Malo was winging as he does at home, shredding wave after wave, while his opponent, Cash Berzolla went for a more selective approach. The scores piled up for Malo and the American was never able to catch up with him. A victory that positions Malo in an excellent place on the tour. See you in Morocco See you in Morocco at the end of September for the final showdown of the first ever Wave world championship in the history of wing foiling!