The changeable, sometimes rough conditions made the final day on Maui particularly exciting. From choppy conditions to a pleasant 15 knots to flying spray at over 30 knots, anything was possible on this day. However, local winners Sarah Hauser and Bernd Roediger know the line-up like the back of their hands and adapted perfectly to the rough wind and every wave. At the end of the day, they were the deserved winners at the top of the podium, followed by two newly crowned wave world champions.
All-rounders Sarah-Quita Offringa and Marcilio Browne proved themselves this year not only in Ho'okipa, but also at many other spots around the world, making them the winners of the combined IWT/PWA World Tour. This is Browne's third wave world title in a row and fourth overall. Sarah-Quita now has a total of 25 world titles across all disciplines. This year's wave title is the third title of the season for the 33-year-old multi-talent from Aruba alongside Slalom-X and Freestyle, which makes her particularly happy: "Of course freestyle and slalom are still a challenge, but the wave discipline is definitely the biggest challenge for me and I am extremely motivated to get even better in this discipline," reports the world champion, who grew up on the flat water of Aruba.
Lina Erpenstein narrowly missed out on the final
Lina Erpenstein from Germany, who topped the waveriding rankings for a long time this year, narrowly missed out on the final. Less than one point behind Coco Foveau, she was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Aloha Classic and slipped to second place in the annual rankings. Even if she didn't win the world title this year, the medical student will definitely still get her doctorate this year - to receive it as runner-up in the wave is an unrivalled achievement.
Newcomers in the women's final
Coco Foveau from Guadeloupe surfed with great confidence and control to third place in the final behind Hauser and Offringa. The 25-year-old newcomer thus cemented her reputation as a major up-and-coming talent in women's wave riding. Fourth place went to the Swiss rider Pauline Katzwho showed with solid scores that her move to Gran Canaria and the many training sessions are paying off and that she too will be a podium contender in the future.
Bernd Roediger in flow condition, Liam Dunkerbeck proves himself in the men's event
Nobody rides the waves of Ho'okipa as smoothly and easily as Bernd Roediger. Equipped with a small, waterproof shoulder bag with a mobile phone and music box inside, he started the final and immediately seemed to find his rhythm. No matter how rough the face of the wave was that day, Bernd carved smoothly across it and always seemed to be in the right place on the wave at exactly the right time. He then incorporated risky air manoeuvres such as goiters or 360s into this effortless but by no means powerless style: "Everyone always says it looks so effortless and easy... All I can say is that it's not. It's hard, Ho'okipa is hard. There's a lot of work involved," says Roediger, whose last victory at the Aloha Classic was ten years ago. With two waves in the excellent points range, he won the final with a two-point lead over Marcilio Browne.
Just 0.10 points behind him on the men's podium of the Aloha Classic 2024 is none other than Liam Dunkerbeck, the newly crowned U21 World Champion. What an achievement! The 20-year-old proves that he is no longer a junior and is now also playing at the very top with the big boys. His father Björn will have been watching proudly. Even though Liam has created his very own style thanks to his background in surfing, his 360 technique is very similar to that of his father. Wave legend Jason Polakow, commentating on the livestream, could hardly believe his eyes when Liam did two perfect 360s in the final and saw Björn in his nineties in front of him.
Heat analysis and insights behind the scenes in the video podcast
Ben Proffitt talks in the podcast with the man who was on site for the drone footage in the Livestream was responsible: Paul van Bellen. Together they analyse the events on Maui. There's good news for those who didn't pull an all-nighter: The stream can also be rewound without any problems.
