Lüderitz Speed Challenge 2025: New top speeds shortly before the end

Everyone was looking ahead to Saturday, and it was set to be the busiest day: Almost a quarter of all runs this year were made on 29 November, with a male or female rider racing across the canal about every two minutes - for seven hours. First and last on the water was Brendan Lorho, who broke the 50-knot barrier on this day and secured fifth place in the 2025 ranking with 50.02 knots over 500 metres.

Albeau with a feel for the best wind

Cedric Bordes also joined the select 50-strong club on Saturday, narrowly beating Gunnar Asmussen into fourth place with 50.21 knots. Both Gunnar and Vincent Valkenaers were once again very fast, but were unable to maintain their previous best speeds from the previous week not increase again. "It was a long month of waiting, unfortunately there were no record days," Gunnar wrote on Instagram. "It wasn't enough without having a few days to fine-tune the material. The potential is there!"

Antoine Albeau remained at the top - but the world record holder significantly improved his best time with 52.25 knots. "I'm super happy to be at the top here, even with the new equipment," said Albeau afterwards. Albeau had the right instinct: after a small wind shift in the early afternoon, he nailed a top speed on the channel, and for around half an hour everyone increased their speeds before the wind shifted again slightly and dropped again. What was missing on this day, however, was the magic gust that would have been necessary for a new record.

• Speed surfing: How the canal in Lüderitz is prepared for the Speed Challenge

Lüderitz Speed Challenge 2025 - Final result

1. Antoine Albeau (52.25)
2. Vincent Valkenaers (50.51)
3. Cedric Bordes (50.21)
4. Gunnar Asmussen (50.14)
5. Brendan Lorho (50.02)
6. Nils Bach (48.68)
7. Alexandros Petikidis (48.29)
8. Jim Crossley (47.77)
9. Simon Pettifer (46.98)
10. Jenna Gibson (46.77)
11. Harald Claessen (45.79)
12. Heidi Ulrich (45.65)
13. Björn Dunkerbeck (45.42)
14. Roger Örnvang (43.36)
15. Momar Diagne (43.03)
16. Thomas Moldenhauer (41.96)
17. Manfred Fuchs (39.73)
18. Kurosh Kiani (37.45)
19. Enrique de Valle (33.31)

All runs and data at luderitz-speed.com/ranking-2025