Suardiaz wins the World Cup Brazil - Artzner & Galea take the World Cup title

After the decisions in the surf freestyle discipline had already been made ( HERE you can find the news on the title decision), the action at the weekend centred on the surf race discipline. Reigning world champion Titouan Galea and Frenchwoman Flora Artzner held all the aces at the first starting gun.

Galea would win the title if he finished second or better. If he finished 3rd or worse, his rivals Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) and Camille Bouyer (FRA) would still have a chance of taking the title from him. The conditions were even more favourable for Flora Artzner - 4th place or better would mean the women's World Championship title for her. For Nia Suardiaz, who had previously been in second place, it was therefore a case of winning the event and hoping that Artzner would slip up.

The course in Taiba/Brazil was challenging in any case. After the start, we first headed onto the cross to the windward mark. After rounding buoy 3, the aim was to make the most of one of the swell waves on the pump track before heading downwind around two more gybe buoys and finally onto the home straight.

The World Cup decision: Galea vs. Cuppuzzo

Titouan Galea was initially completely unimpressed, started like a Swiss clockwork and won the first two eliminations with aplomb. Then a slip-up in the third race - Galea missed out on the final and his Italian rival Francesco Cappuzzo made up valuable points with a third place in the final. Before the fourth and final race of the event, Cappuzzo still had a realistic chance of winning the title - if he finished four places better than Galea, he would be the new world champion. Galea got off to a bad start, was initially only in 5th position and a group led by Mathis Ghio, Francesco Cappuzzo and Camille Bouyer pulled away a little before the windward mark. But as in previous races, Galea was able to make up valuable ground on the pump track, where riders with a neutral wing are only allowed to pump over the foil, and move up to third place. On the final downwind section with two jibes, Galea then held on to this position and defended his world title in the surf race discipline.

Suardiaz wins the event, Artzner the World Championship title

Because the women's field was smaller than the men's, a whopping eleven eliminations were possible. Flora Artzner initially left the door open for Suardiaz with her inconsistent results and Suardiaz did everything she could to get back within striking distance - she won the first six eliminations in a row. In the end, however, Flora Artzner was like a horse that only jumps as high as it has to: although she was never on a par with Suardiaz in a direct duel, she was always good enough to stay safely in the top four overall. When Suardiaz crossed the finish line first in the eleventh race, she had won the event with aplomb - but narrowly missed out on the World Championship title.

This means that three out of four World Cup titles will go to France this year. If you want to win the title in 2023, you should start filling up your travel funds, because the provisional Tour calendar of the GWA Wingfoil World Tour there are a whopping 14 (!) World Cup events for the coming season. Even though most of the events have not yet been confirmed, the destinations - dream destinations such as New Zealand, Sal/Cape Verde, Mauritius, South Africa and San Francisco are currently on the agenda - are whetting the appetite for the new season. It is due to start as early as 3 March 2023 in Tauranga/New Zealand. We will of course report back for you.

Finally, here are the highlights from day 4 and 5 of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup in Taiba/Brazil: