WWT World Tour kick-off: Roediger and Hunter win Quatro Maui Pro, Maria Behrens in second place - with Gallery!

When the two best waves come from the same rider more than one point apart, you can already guess that there was something extraordinary on show. If you also know that the event took place before Hookipa, most people already have an idea who it could be about. Bernd Roediger showed once again at the Quatro Maui Pro why he is considered one of the most stylish riders in the world. Twice during the final day he cracked the 16 points in a heat, the third-best score of the event (by Marcilio Browne) was "only" a 14.

"The second day of the Quatro Maui Pro offered everything that makes Ho'okipa the spiritual home of wave riding," enthused the WWT. "With steady trade winds and powerful Hawaiian waves, the world's best wave windsurfers mastered wave after wave, displaying such a combination of power, precision and creativity that the spectators - and the judges - ran out of superlatives."

Roediger with the wave of the day

The key to victory was one of the last waves in the final, when Roediger added a taka jumped into white water and a one-handed clew first bottom turn after two crisp turns - a move that was simultaneously radical, functional and breathtakingly stylish. The judges scored this wave 8.93, the highest score of the event. Many spectators were of the opinion that the score should have been higher. Once again, he did the whole thing with a sound box around his shoulders to get him in the mood with the right music. Without music, he might have heard the incredulous cries of livestream commentator Kai Katchadourian all the way out on the water.

The final saw four former Aloha Classic winners - Roediger, Antoine Martin, Marcilio Browne and Morgan Noireaux - go head-to-head in a heat that Head Judge Luis Escribano later described as one of the most high-class heats ever seen in Ho'okipa. It was Roediger who clearly stood out from the field with a final score of 16.40 and secured his second WWT victory of the still young season. after his victory in the 3-star event in Puerto Rico - and thus confirmed his reputation as a hookipa specialist.

Last year an experiment, this year at the top level

"It's really hard to get into the feeling of just riding carefree," reflected Roediger after his victory. "You can feel the pressure, you can feel the expectations. I've realised that it's become harder to compete since my last win - it's become harder to deal with the expectations. But getting to the point where you feel completely carefree, completely detached from the result - like: I'll just go out there and see what happens - you can feel that. I'm in last place in the run-up. Cool. It's not going the way I imagined it would. But you just keep surfing and keep believing."

It was like a day full of happiness the whole time. That is Ho'okipa." (Bernd Roediger)

Roediger also recounted an unusual omen from his first run-up. "The timing was just right for the launch of the Artemis mission - this rocket that had just taken off. I don't know, it just felt like a day of happiness the whole time. And that's Ho'okipa. It's got a good vibe, good energy." He concluded with a heartfelt thank you: "I'm so grateful that this event exists. Last year it was an experiment - this year it's really happening, and at this level.

Fireworks of One Handed Goiters by Antoine Martin

Antoine Martin from Guadeloupe came second with 14.63 points and performed what was probably the most talked-about manoeuvre of the entire event. In the semi-final, Martin landed a no-handed goiter - in which he let go of the sail completely in the middle of the turn - which caused astonishment on the beach. Head judge Luis Escribano emphasised the move as one that pushed the boundaries of scoring. "I think he was trying to get us to award higher scores," said Escribano. The move received 6.53 points - a score that many felt undercut one of the most technically challenging and visually stunning moves ever attempted at a competition in Ho'okipa.

In the final, Martin continued to push the limits with a series of one-handed goiters. As Escribano noted, "No hands is better - but one-handed is great too." Marcilio Browne took third place with 14.74 points, narrowly missing out on second place due to the WWT's somewhat special scoring rules. Morgan Noireaux from Hawaii rounded out the podium in fourth place with 13.50 points, but his words perhaps best summarised the day: He described the level as one of the most competitive windsurfing events he had seen at a competition in Ho'okipa for a very long time.

Behind Roediger in the final were Marcilio Browne and Antoine Martin, who had previously caused a furore with a one-handed goiter. Local Morgan Noireaux finished in fourth place. While Noireaux and Martin went straight through to the final, Brawzinho and Roediger even had to go through an extra round in the so-called B final, in which the second and third-placed riders from the semi-finals had to race against each other again. Robby Swift and Arthur Arutkin were knocked out there, while Liam Dunkerbeck and Thomas Traversa were eliminated in the semi-finals, while world champion Marc Paré had to watch from the quarter-finals onwards, as did Philip Köster, Victor Fernandez, Moritz Mauch and others.

Maria Behrens in second place behind Marine Hunter

Maria Behrens had already secured her ticket to the semi-finals in the women's event the day before. The rider from Lübeck, who finished fourth in the 2024 Aloha Classic off Hookipa, showed how good she is in the down-the-line conditions again tonight. She went straight into the final with a clear lead over Pauline Katz and Lina Erpenstein, while Katz and Erpenstein had to go into the extra round known as the "B final". Lina then won there ahead of Angela Cochran and was in the final, while Katz was unable to fully compete after an injury.

In addition to Maria, last year's winner Marine Hunter had also qualified directly for the final. There, the Frenchwoman once again showed her class in the Hookipa conditions and won by almost 1.5 points. Her style was consistently praised for its flow, power and precision in a wide variety of conditions. "I'm super, super happy," Hunter said after her win. "We had really great conditions for the final - it was cross-off, super smooth waves. Just great."

Maria Behrens took second place with 11.40 points - her second podium result at an event on Maui - a remarkable achievement! Behrens showed powerful turns, great style and very good wave selection throughout the competition. Angela Cochran from Hawaii, former world champion and true legend, took third place with 11.36 points - her second consecutive podium finish at this event. Lina Erpenstein took fourth place with 11.30 points, just 0.06 points behind the podium - a heartbreakingly close margin for Lina, who performed at an exceptional level throughout the day.

Watch the finals of the Quatro Maui Pro