Margaret River Wave Classic: Köster wins 4-star World Cup - Mega 360 by Julian Salmonn and shark alarm

Western Australia is actually the terrain of Jaeger Stone, and the Geraldton local was also the top favourite at the Margaret River Wave Classic. Honoured with four stars for the World Cup, the contest attracted various Australian over-winterers, including Philip Köster, Julian Salmonn, Sybille Bode and the Dane Simon Thule. And at least on day one, it looked like a Stone victory, with Jaeger taking the highest heat score of the event and his brother Hendrix also finishing in the top eight.

However, not everything came together on the final day, Stone only managed to put together a few good waves late in his semi-final, but was unable to finish higher than third. Philip Köster got off to a confident start, but was unable to get past Ricky van der Toorn in his semi-final. The decisive heat was also close at first, with Köster only conjuring up two seven-waves towards the end to win the event. "I couldn't have wished for a better start to the new season. The win in Australia is great and I'm just happy," he said afterwards. "I felt really comfortable 'down under'. The conditions were very challenging and demanded a lot from me." Köster is expecting his second daughter in March and was therefore doubly happy.

Acclaimed 360 from Julian Salmonn

Julian Salmonn got off to an impressive start with second place on his new material from Naish. "I'm happy with the result, we had really good conditions," he said afterwards. He also managed one of the big moves in Margaret River with an impressive 360 - albeit just a few seconds after the end of the semi-final. "I knew the wave wouldn't count, but it was pretty flat for a long time in that heat and when I saw the set coming, I knew I couldn't let it go unsurfed!" Instead of points, there were loud cheers from the spectators on the beach.

Sybille Bode was among the six women who took part in the Margaret River Wave Classic. She ended up in fifth place, with Switzerland's Maria Schälin winning ahead of the top favourite Jane Seman. Maria is spending the winter in Western Australia and won the Wave Rally in Geraldton just a few weeks ago. This gave her confidence for Margaret River, Schälin managed to catch one of the biggest and longest waves of the final in the last minute to take the win "Winning the first 4-star event of the 2025 season in Margaret River feels unreal! My first win in a windsurfing competition at such a famous spot - just incredible," she said overjoyed.

In the meantime, there was a lot of excitement about shark alarms off the beach. Philip Köster explains: "I didn't see any myself, but a few five-metre specimens were reportedly spotted. But you have to block that out on the water and concentrate on your heat!"

Results IWT/PWA World Cup Margaret River Wave Classic

Gents

1. Philip Köster
2. Julian Salmonn
3. Ricky van der Toorn
4. Peter Kenyon
5. Simon Thule/Jaeger Stone

Ladies

1. Maria Schälin
2. Jane Seman
3. Jaiya Mars Morris
4. Sarah Kenyon
5. Sybille Bode

PWA/IWT Wave Tour: The World Cup Calendar 2025